Steven Universe: Necro-Gem
by darkcastchamp
Summary: It seems as though a new face has shown up around Beach City sharing the same origin as Steven Universe's. How exactly will meeting this half-gem affect everyone in the Crystal Gems?...
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Steven! Are you ready yet? You don't want to keep Connie waiting." Pearl yelled upstairs to Steven's living area as he was packing for a hike with Connie's family. "Hold on! I'm almost done!" Steven called down. After a couple minutes, Steven ran on downstairs with a huge smile on his face like usual, "Wow this is going to be exciting Pearl! It's just going to be me, Connie, and her parents!"

"Eheh, Steven, you know that Connie already enjoys having you as a friend. You don't really have to try and have her parents like you too." Pearl responded, holding her hands together. "But I wanna Pearl. I mean, I sort of feel bad for getting Connie's parents involved in so much danger regarding the Corrupted Gems, the Mutant Gems, and all that. I wanna show them the non-Gem side of me, the human me~!" Pearl laughed lightly at Steven's enthusiasm, rubbing his head, "Okay okay, you made your point Steven. Go and have fun, me and Garnet will have dinner waiting for you back home." She patted Steven on his back, gently nudging him out the door where Connie was standing on the beach and her parents' car was up on the hill leading up from the beach.

The car drive took about an hour or so towards Beach City's Natural Park which was secluded in a nice, mountainous forest. Steven was so excited he was actually bobbing up and down in the back seat, making Connie laugh from how childish he looked, but that's why she enjoys hanging out with him. "Alright you two, we're here at the camping grounds." Connie's mother spoke back, "Now if you two want to go off hiking by yourselves, stay on the designated hiking trails. Understand?"

"Nnngh, yes mom." Connie groaned, not really enjoying her mother's daily, safety lecture. "Of course Mrs. Maheswaran~!" Steven however, couldn't really think any less. "Alright then, as long as you two get it, have fun." Mrs. Maheswaran smiled immediately before Steven and Connie ran on out the car doors to get started on their little hiking fun.

About a half an hour has passed as Steven and Connie were walking up one of the hiking trails. "So Steven, what exactly did you bring along?" Connie asked.

"Well everything I ever need is right here in the Cheeseburger Backpack." He held his backpack out in confident triumph. "Haha, you say that with such conviction Steven. Is the backpack really that good?"

"Oh Connie, the Cheeseburger Backpack helped me and the Gems on numerous occasions. It's like our lifeline~!"

"Okay~! Well let's see what's in there then?" The two sat down on the trail as Steven opened up his backup, throwing out things as he listed them, "Hmmm, flashlight. Bug Spray. Oh~! Bits~!" Steven started eating the wrapped up Bits he got for this trip, "Blow up, water-raft." Connie laughed even more at Steven's naïve nonchalant attitude at some of the generally, unneeded supplies he brought, "Oh! And let's not forget Bear Mace!" Steven shouted out, holding up the Bear Mace. "B-Bear Mace?" Connie leaned back a little worried, "Steven, you really don't think we'll encounter a bear here do you?"

"Oh come on Connie, I've taken on Corrupted Gems on a daily basis. What's the worst that could happen?"

Just as Steven said that, the tree line near them was knocked over as a massive, Kabuto-inspired, Corrupted Gem roared out from behind the toppled trees. Steven gasped, "Run!" He took Connie's hand as they started to run on back to the campsite, "W-Wait Steven, my parents are back there!"

"O-Oh right!" Not wanting to endanger the Maheswarans, Steven and Connie broke off from the trail and headed into the thick tree lines the Kabuto Corrupted Gem, following right behind, knocking trees down left and right. While on the run, Connie's foot got stuck on a rugged, tree root and tripped over onto the ground, "Ah! St-Steven!" Connie called out. Steven turned to see that the Kabuto was about to strike down on Connie. Reacting, Steven stepped out in front, ready to form a bubble. As the Kabuto Gem struck down, Steven didn't feel the impact of the attack. Looking up, Steven's eyes widened in response to the sight.

Someone was blocking the Kabuto Gem's horn attack, someone who was decked out in a grey hoodie with a black, coat on top of it. But that wasn't even the stranger part. The stranger part was that the Kabuto's horn was actually being held in place from what seemed to be a giant, Skeleton Hand, holding onto the Kabuto Gem's horn from behind. The hooded person looked back at Steven and Connie, showing them one of his eyes from underneath the shadows that his hoodie projected. It was a sickly, dark-green color that seemed to have glowed underneath the shadow of his hoodie. He nodded his head over to the side, telling Steven and Connie to move away from this area. Steven merely nodded in response, taking Connie's arm around his shoulder, "Th-Thank you." Once Steven and Connie were out of sight, the hooded boy glared back up at the Kabuto Gem as his eyes turned from the dark-green, to a crimson red.

The skeleton hand pulled back even more on the Kabuto Gem, making it fall on its back as it struggled in vain to try and roll over. With the advantage now his, the hooded boy leaped up into the air, gripping onto what seemed to be a curved dagger, almost like a sickle. In one, quick strike, he dived down, slicing right through the Kabuto Gem's soft underside, making it poof back into its Gem state. Steven and Connie merely watched in awe at how strong this person was, "St-Steven, who is that?"

"Don't look at me. B-But from experience, only Gems really have the power to take on a Corrupted Gem by themselves."

"So wait, you're saying this guy here is a Gem?"

"It could be the only explanation." Steven looked back over in time to see the hooded boy pick up the Gem and start to clench his grip around it, looking like he's about to crush it, "No! Wait!" Steven sprinted right over to the hooded boy and snatched the Gem out of his hand before he could do anything. After doing so, Steven bubbled it and sent it back to the Crystal Sanctum, much to the hooded boy's dismay, "What the heck?" The hooded boy immediately drew his dagger again, facing Steven, "Whoa whoa wait! I don't want to fight!" Steven waved his hands in front of himself quickly, not wanting to have a confrontation. "How were you able to do that?!" The hooded figure lashed out, seeming to be startled from Steven's little bubble trick. "Oh, y-you mean the bubble thing?" Steven started off, "D-Don't worry, it's nothing harmful. I just sent the Corrupted Gem there back to our base."

"Our?..." The hooded boy seemed confused, still holding his dagger up. This made Steven even more anxious, wanting to find a way to make the person stand down, "Um…um…My name is Steven!"

"What?..." The hooded boy tilted his head.

"I-I said my name is Steven. What's yours?..." The hooded boy's eyes narrowed at Steven before standing straight up again, lowering his weapon, "…Zircon…" Steven finally sighed out in relief. "So Zircon…um…that was pretty cool what you did there against that Corrupted Gem." This only made Zircon stare at Steven even more, "How do you know about the Corrupted Gems?..."

"Oh that's easy!" Steven lifted up his shirt to show Zircon the Rose Quartz on his stomach, "You see I'm a Gem! Although, technically a half-Gem. I work alongside Gems who defend Earth, known as the Crystal Gems~!"

"The Crystal…Gems?...Wait. You just said you're a half-Gem?" Steven nodded at Zircon's question. Afterwards, Zircon turned around, dropped the coat he was wearing and lifted the back of his shirt up. No wonder he had himself fit in such heavy, concealing clothing. His skin was a pale green and looked as if he had green veins appearing all over his body. The icing on the cake though was that in the middle of his spinal area, a green gem-stone with red blotches in it was embedded in him, "N-No way. You're a half-gem too?" Steven stood back shocked since Zircon's gem didn't have that faint glow that the other Full-Gems had. Pulling his shirt back down and placing the coat back on, Zircon faced the two. "So if you're a half-gem, that must mean that your mother was a Gem!"

"I guess…" Zircon shrugged his shoulders, not really seeing why Steven is bringing this up. "Who was your mother Zircon~!" Steven gleefully asked. "Wh-What?!" Zircon jumped back, shocked at how forward Steven was. No one has ever asked him anything like that before. "Ngh…well if you must know…tch…" He held his head as if he was in a concentrated thought. His eyes looked back up, "Her name was Bloodstone…"

"B-Bloodstone?" Steven leaned forward.

"Connie! Steven!" The Makeswarans voices could be heard off in the distance.

"We're over here!" Connie yelled out. Moments later, the Maheswarans arrived, "Oh thank god! You're alright!" Mrs. Maheswaran gasped out, "We saw a huge ruckus going on in the direction you guys were hiking in and immediately ran over. What happened?"

"Oh everything is ok now Mrs. Maheswaran! You see Zircon here-" When Steven turned to introduce Zircon to the Maheswarans, he was baffled to see that Zircon has disappeared, "Wh-Wha? But he was just-"

"Don't worry about it, I think we spent enough time out here as it was. Let's head on back." Mr. Maheswaran spoke, obviously paranoid about another bad thing happening. So everyone packed up and headed on back to Beach City.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Steven waved goodbye to Connie who waved back from the car window, where the Maheswarans drove on off back home. Steven sighed out a little, disappointed that the hiking trip was cut short because of the Corrupted Gem attack, but now he had something to tell Pearl and them about. "Man…I thought they'd never leave…" Steven jumped away, startled, to see that Zircon was standing right next to him. "B-But wait! How did-...but you were-…" Steven pointed all around trying to figure out how Zircon did that. "Hey wait a minute! Why did you disappear like that back at the Natural Park?" Steven pouted, placing his hands on his hips, making Zircon roll his eyes, "You were about to introduce me to people I had no interest of meeting…"

"What makes you say that?" Steven whined.

"Let's just say I'm not exactly a…people person."

"Well how do you feel about meeting other Gems?"

"I'm not exactly a Gem person either…" Zircon shot Steven down again, only making Steven more and more persistent. "Come on~! If you're a half-gem like me and are fighting the Corrupted Gems, then they're gonna love you!"

"Why do I highly doubt that for some reason?..." Zircon looked away. Having enough of Zircon's attitude, Steven took Zircon's hand and started to run back to the Crystal Sanctum with Zircon in tow, "H-hey! What do you think you're doing?!" Zircon yelled out, being dragged all the way over to the front door of the house. "Peeeeeearl! Amethyyyst! Garneeeeet!" Steven repeatedly knocked on the door, letting go of Zircon's hand, "Gh! Are you always this annoyingly persistent!?" Zircon lashed out comedically.

"Only when I want to be." Steven smiled back.

The door to the Crystal Sanctum house opened up with Pearl being the one standing in the doorway. "Oh, Steven you're back so ea-" Her speech stopped upon seeing Steven's new "friend" right next to him, "Um…hi." Pearl nervously waved to Zircon who just merely stared back at her with narrowed eyes. Pearl leaned to Steven, whispering, "Um, Steven, who is this?"

"Wait, I want Garnet and Amethyst to hear this too~!" Steven spoke, running inside, "Gaaaarneeeet! Amethyyyyyst!" Leaving Pearl outside with Zircon. "Ehehe um…nice to meet you." She was able to force a bit of a smile, but Zircon was still staring up at her with the same, uninterested expression before walking into the house himself. "Yikes…not much of a talker is he?" Pearl commented before finally joining them all inside.

"Alright Steven, what is it that you wanted to tell us?" Garnet spoke, all of the Crystal Gems being seated down on the couch. Steven pulled Zircon into the middle of the main room with him, "Everyone, I'd like you to meet Zircon~!" Steven introduced. Pearl had the same nervous smile she had on at the door, Garnet didn't know what to think about Zircon, and Amethyst had a bit of a bright expression on her face, "Hehe hey, nice outfit there Zircon." She complimented, albeit in Amethyst's spunky way. "Um…thanks?" Zircon tilted his head.

"Steven, why exactly did you bring this boy to our home?" Garnet asked, brash and cautious as ever. "Oh! Zircon, show them your back!" This made not just Zircon give Steven a shocked expression, but also Pearl, "Steven, you don't just ask people to do stuff like that!"

"No seriously! Please Zircon~?!" Steven pleaded, making one of Zircon's eyes twitch before he sighed out, "Fine…" He turned around once more, dropping his jacket and lifting his shirt up, shocking the Crystal Gems once they saw his gem. "Th-That's impossible!" Garnet yelled out.

"Whoa, nice veins dude!" Amethyst laughed.

"Another gem?" Pearl looked at it in mixture of bewilderment and worry.

"Not just any gem." Steven started, "He's a half-gem like me!"

"What?! That's even more impossible!" Garnet's eyebrows burrowed above her visors, showing a sign of anxiety. "Isn't there a famous quote talking about that anything can be possible?..." Zircon glared back at the three gems. "Well…I mean…" Pearl stammered, "We never knew that any other gems lived on Earth besides us. Wh-Who did you come from anyway, Zircon?"

"Oh! He told me his mother was someone named Bloodstone!" Steven blurted out.

"You idiot! Don't just yell out my personal stuff like that without my permission!" Zircon lashed before quickly looking up to see Pearl's face in absolute horror and Garnet pulling Steven back behind them. "Steven stay back!" Both Garnet and Pearl materialized there weapons, Amethyst following, confused at what was going on.

"Garnet! Pearl! What are you guys doing?!" Steven tried to push out from behind Garnet and Pearl, but they weren't budging.

"No time to explain right now Steven! We need to take this Zircon out before he does anything dangerous!" Garnet pushed Steven back even more, putting him onto the main room's couch. Zircon merely scratched his cheek, not being affected at all by the Crystal Gems' reaction, "Hmmm…now that I think about it, I "remember" you two…" He annunciated on the word 'remember'.

"Why say it like that?" Pearl sneered.

"Well…they're not exactly MY memories. They're my mother's. Most of it is blurry…but I remember you two," He pointed two of his fingers at Garnet and Pearl, "And then there was a third one. I think her name was…" He held a finger to his forehead, being in deep thought like he was at the Park. "Rose Quartz?..." Pearl angrily pointed the tip of her spear out at Zircon, "Someone like you doesn't deserve to speak her name!"

Jumping off from the couch, Steven leaped over Garnet and them, landing between them and Zircon with his arms out, "Alright! I want an explanation!"

"Steven this isn't the time! Now get behind us immediately!" Garnet ordered.

"No! I'm not gonna let you hurt the person who saved my life!" The room went quiet, Pearl and Garnet looking at each other in confusion, "H-He what?" They both said.

"He saved my life! When I was at the park with the Maheswarans, a giant Corrupted Gem attacked me and Connie, but he jumped in and saved us! So please, put your weapons away!" Zircon was indeed astonished by Steven's actions, making his eyes widen. After much hesitation and thought, Pearl put her weapons away followed after by Amethyst. Garnet though was the only one who still had her weapons out. "G-Garnet." Steven called out. Garnet never took her sight off of Zircon, slowly making her gauntlets disappear. Steven let out a relieved sigh, "Now what was that all about?"

"Yeah, I'd like to know what's going on myself." Amethyst looked up at Pearl and Garnet. "Amethyst, this was during the Gem war before you were even made. To be honest I'm sort of glad you were never able to meet Bloodstone the Ravenous." Pearl commented.

"Ravenous?" One of Steven's eyebrows rose curiously, making Pearl sigh, "I never wanted to tell you much about the war, Steven, since it wasn't your time and all. But…" She looked over at Zircon who was actually intent on listening to this as well. "Well…you of course knew that your mother led the Crystal Gems in the fight against Homeworld."

"Well yeah." Steven nodded.

"However, the Homeworld Gems were led by a vicious and merciless Commander under the orders of Pink Diamond. Her name was Bloodstone, Bloodstone the Ravenous. She was a Gem feared by all not only for her might in battle, but also for her strategical mind, something that Bloodstone Gems weren't really good at and the reason how she received the position of Commander in the first place." Pearl explained having a depressed look on her face. "We lost so many Gems to her forces and her traps…and many more to Bloodstone herself. It took Rose all of her might just to force Bloodstone into a standstill retreat, but not before Bloodstone personally crushed many fellow Crystal Gems." Pearl now got a little teary eyed, making Zircon look away. "Steven, you remind me so much of your mother that sometimes I think you personally inherited her spirit…so that's why I thought…" She looked at Zircon one last time, Steven finally understanding, "Why you thought Zircon could've been like HIS mother." Steven looked at Zircon who stared right back at him. "But…if he really was as merciless as you say his mother was, then he wouldn't have saved my life." Steven's comment actually made Pearl jump slightly and made her think, "W-Well, when you say it like that-"

"Pearl…" Garnet called in a low tone. "Well I mean, Garnet, Steven does have a point. One way or the other, this Zircon still saved Steven's life." Pearl talked back, "Maybe we could give him the benefit of the doubt?"

"Yeah! And maybe he can stay with us and be a Crystal Gem!"

"I don't think so." Garnet and Zircon said in unison, making Steven flinch, "Wh-What?"

"Sorry, but I don't exactly work well with others…" Zircon spoke, turning to leave. "And I'm sorry Steven, but I still don't trust him." Garnet continued off, making Zircon look back, "…You and everyone else…" He slammed the door behind him, making them all flinch. Steven was really upset as he looked at Garnet, angrily, before running out the door, "Ziiircooooon!" Pearl walked up next to Garnet, frowning, "Garnet…what does Sapphire's Future Vision show about this?..." Garnet stared off a little before responding, "I can't see anything revolving around that boy in our future…"

"Then that's good right?" Amethyst looked a little optimistic, "I mean, he seems pretty cool in a "lone wolf" kinda style eh?"

"Amethyst, me not being able to see something in my Future Vision could be bad too…" Garnet snipped. "Steven may have turned people in the past to our side, but this Zircon…I doubt he'll be changed easily."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Zircon wait!" Zircon turned to see Steven calling after him and starts to walk again, "What do you want this time?...I told you that those friends of yours wouldn't like me." He frowned angrily.

"Wait, what made you so sure they weren't!" Steven jumped in front of Zircon, making him snap, "Because no one ever liked me ever since the day I was born!" Zircon's shouting made Steven freeze, forcing Zircon to push past him. "W-Well…" Steven started, "Then I'll be the first~!" Zircon almost fell over, "Wh-What?! You can't be serious." He quickly turned with more of a comical, angered expression. "Well yeah! There's also a quote for there being a first for everything~!"

"Seriously, you're optimism is starting to become miraculously frightening!" Zircon jumped back, holding his elbow and hand out in front of him.

"Zircon, why don't you stay around? What you did to stop that Corrupted Gem back at the natural park was amazing. We could use strength like that here at the Crystal Sanctum." Zircon looked down at the ground, the shadow over his face darkening even more, "I thought I told you this before…I work better by myself."

"But it's easier to work with a group." Zircon lunged at Steven looking like he was about to choke him, but stops midway, his eyes turning crimson once more, "Why do you always have a reply for everything?! It's really annoying!"

"Well why do you always have to act like a sourpuss?" Steven smiled. Zircon clenched his hands, holding them to his side as he held his breathe from trying to yell with his eyes closed tightly. After a couple seconds he calmed down, "Ok listen, Steven was it?"

"Mhm~!" Steven nodded.

"Have you ever heard of the story of the Frankenstein Monster?"

"Oh! I remember that coming on around Halloween time."

"So you know that the story is about a monster created by a mad scientist whom the village people feared and chased it into a burning windmill where it eventually was burned alive?..."

"Y-Yeah?..." Steven's face became more solemn.

"Let's just say that my story is very similar to that of the Frankenstein Monster…"

"But you're not dead silly." Steven laughed, making Zircon roll his eyes up in annoyance, "Except THAT part…" He breathed deeply, "When I was born, I was ridiculed by the people in the town I lived in…And when they saw what powers I was capable of, they never saw me as a defender, but as a monster." He sneered, "They forced me out of the town like I was the bringer of the apocalypse. And every other town, city, or rural neighborhood I visited, everyone looked at me the same way as the people of my hometown did…like I'm a terrifying…" He poked Steven's chest, "bloodthirsty…" He poked Steven again, "Monster…" He poked Steven one last time before turning around once more to try and leave.

"Maybe all you need is a friend." Steven said, making Zircon stop once more, but not having him turn back. "Or maybe all you need is a family? I have a father, but I also have the Crystal Gems as my family."

"Then that's the difference between you and me…you actually HAD people who wanted to love you."

"And that's the thing~! You can have those too if you stay here~!"

"Hmph…staying here won't benefit me. I just waste my life now trying to challenge myself against these creatures, the Corrupted Gems."

"That's it~!"

"What's it?" Zircon looked back with a quizzical, wide-eyed expression.

"Corrupted Gems come here all the time~! It's a better reason for you to stay here~!"

"What?!" Zircon hunched over in shock.

"So come on~! Stay~!"

"N-Now hold on one moment!"

"Please~!?"

"Hey I said listen!"

"Please~?!" Steven continued.

"You know if you keep asking my answer is still gonna be-!"

"Please~?! Please~?! Please~?! Please~?! Please~?!-"

"ALRIGHT!" Zircon finally shouted, his voice echoing all around the beach. His face went red slightly, embarrassed and shocked that he actually let himself be played by someone like Steven, "A-Alright, I'll stay."

"Yes!" Steven cheered, throwing his arms up. "But!" Zircon held his index finger up.

"Aaaawe!" Steven groaned, hating that word when it's used like that.

"If you want me to stay, you'll have to get a definite yes from your Gem friends within the next three days. If you don't, I'm leaving on the fourth day, no "ifs", "ands", or "buts"." Zircon negotiated, knowing that this can be the only way he can get Steven to leave him alone.

"Easy!" Steven smirked, accepting the challenge.

"I don't know. That tall one seems like she's already got me pegged." Zircon smirked, believing he's going to win.

"I can convince her! Just watch!" Steven held his hand out. Smirking, Zircon took his own hand in Steven's and shook it.

When Zircon turned around, Steven could now notice that there was something parked on the beach. It was a motorcycle, black painted with green flames on it. "Wow~! Is that yours, Zircon?!" Steven's eyes brightened. "Huh?...Oh yeah. This is my baby right here, the Reaper…"

"Zircon that's really cool!" Steven ran up to it while Zircon sat on his motorcycle, pondering. "Now...Where will I be able to stay for the next three days?"

"Oh! I know!" Zircon looked at Steven with widened eyes.

"Ok Steven, why the heck are we at a car wash?" Zircon's left eye was widened as he looked at the car wash building in personal worry. "Daaaaaad~!" Steven yelled over at the side of the building, getting his father, Greg Universe's, attention, "Oh! Steven, what brings you here?" He then saw Zircon standing right beside Steven, "And um…who's your friend?"

"Hah…funny." Zircon growled.

"This here is Zircon. Zircon, this here is my dad." Steven held his arms out to both of them as he proceeded with the introductions. Greg walked over, holding his hand out to Zircon, "Nice to meet you Zircon. A friend of Steven's is always okay with me." Zircon looked at Greg with an uninterested look again, not shaking Greg's hand back. "Wow um…not much of a talker are ya?"

"I'm just wondering why your nut-headed son brought me here." Zircon nonchalantly insulted.

"N-Nut-headed?" Greg said in surprise.

"Dad, I was wondering if you could rent out the back of your van to Zircon here. He needs a place to say before he can live with me and the other Gems at the Crystal Sanctum."

"Don't act like you already won this bet yet!" Zircon yelled, clenching his left fist.

"Wait, the Sanctum? I thought that was like…you know, a Gem-only place?" Greg questioned.

"Well Zircon here is a half-gem like me, dad." Steven patted Zircon's back. "He is? Well I'll be darned. Guess you found yourself a common compatriot here Steven." Greg laughed only making Zircon growl slightly, "Now I see where Steven gets his annoying optimism from…And hold on, did you say the BACK of his VAN?!"

"Well yeah. My dad lives in his own place after he received some money from a successful jingle he made. So his van is completely unoccupied now to live in. Come on, we'll show you!" Steven started to drag Zircon over to Greg's van which was over to the side while leaving his motorcycle parked at the car wash's front-right corner.

When the back doors opened up, the three were looking at a very disorganized and messy sleeping area. Zircon narrowed his eyes analyzing the place, "…I've lived in worse." He finally spoke. "Fine, I'll stay here."

"Yes!" Steven cheered.

"But again," Zircon pointed at Steven. "Only for three days. Because after that I'm-"

"Going to be living in the Crystal Sanctum with me and the others~!" Steven interrupted. Zircon moved back, shutting his mouth and his pupils shrunk. "Y-You're really dead-set on having me stay, are you?"

"Of course! No one deserves to ever be alone." Steven commented, making Zircon speechless. When he collected himself once more, he hopped up into the back of the van, "I'm going to bed. Night." He said before abruptly closing the van's back doors. "Wait." Greg looked up to see that the sun was barely setting. "It's like the afternoon."

"Maybe he's a night owl." Steven giggled. The two walked away, leaving Zircon to lay down in the van's backseat, pondering. He stared up at the ceiling, thinking about all of the things that Steven said that day.

Maybe all you need is a friend.

You can have those too if you stay here.

No one deserves to be alone.

"….Hmph…" Zircon grabbed a nearby, wool blanket and placed it over top of him, slowly closing his eyes to sleep. "Friends…"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Zircon~!" Zircon suddenly heard a set of loud banging after hearing Steven's voice. He rolled over to the back doors and opened up with one hand, still laying on his side and under the blanket. "What do you want?..." Standing next to Steven was Connie, smiling brightly at Zircon, "Oh…it's the other one…" Zircon spoke, annoyed. "Hey." Connie waved at Zircon, "I was never able to thank you for saving me before." She lightly bowed to Zircon, he himself looking around slightly before back to her, wondering how to react, "Um…thanks?" He now leaned up, the cover falling off of him. He wasn't wearing his hoodie so Steven and Connie were able to see Zircon's face fully for the first. His head's skin was pale green like the other parts of his body and the green veins as well all formed around the sides and forehead of his face. As for his hair, it was a healthy, green color that was closely shaved, almost like that of a military style, except one bang that hung from the top center of his forehead and curved down to the right side of his face. He was also rather well toned, well for someone who's been fighting Corrupted Gems most of his life.

"Zircon, we were wondering if you wanted to do anything today with us." Steven looked down at the exhausted-looking Zircon who just looked up, completely uninterested, "Steven…What time is it right now?"

"Um…11:00?"

"Yes…11:00. It's too darn early!" He yelled before slamming the back doors of the van shut. "Whoa, check out the awesome motor on this!" Amethyst's voice could be heard from the side before the sound of something revving up could be heard. The van's doors immediately burst open with a frightened and angry Zircon appearing, "Who's starting MY bike?!"

"Oh yeah, Amethyst is with us too!" Steven chimed as Zircon merely pinched the bridge of his nose, "Of course…why not?..."

A couple seconds later, Amethyst drove Zircon's motorcycle around the car wash area and the street that was nearby, making Zircon's eyes widen, "H-Hey! Be careful with that!"

"Oh come on! Careful is my forte." Amethyst smiled before a loud crash followed it. Zircon's voice trailed off with a shocked squeak as he witnessed Amethyst crash his motorcycle into…the mayor's car. "What in the sam-heck?!" The mayor got out of the car as he saw Amethyst, "Oh great, not you!"  
"Whoops, sorry about that Mr. Mayor." Amethyst smiled nervously. Zircon, Steven, and Connie ran on over as Zircon got on his knees, rubbing the side of his bike, "Oh god, Reaper! Are you okay? I pwomise, daddy won't let you out of his sight again. AND YOU?!" He turned his attention towards Amethyst, "Who the heck said you could touch my bike?!"

"The idiot who left his keys in the ignition." Amethyst smirked pointing to Zircon's keys as an annoyed black swirl hung over his head. "I can fix this…" He snarled, taking his bike off somewhere to get it fixed. The mayor tried to stop him, "Excuse me! But who's gonna pay the damages for my ca-" Zircon immediately growled at the mayor, making him shut up in pale-skinned fear, "Eeep…"

Steven felt bad about this as him, Connie and Amethyst chased after, "Zircon wait!"  
"What is it now?!..." Zircon sneered, quickly turning to the group. Steven elbowed Amethyst, wanting her to say something, "Ow! O-Okay okay, geez. Um…" Amethyst shrugged, "No hard feelings?" Giving a quick smile as Zircon immediately started stomping off again with his motorcycle. Panicking, Steven elbowed Amethyst again, "Ow! A-Alright! Eh, listen, Zircon?" Zircon stopped again to glare at her. "Yo um, that dent doesn't look that bad. I've seen the guys over at the motor repairs place fixed things even worse than that. If we take it there, they'll make it look as good as new." Steven sighed out, happy Amethyst said the right thing this time. Zircon looked over at her, "Will it cost money?"  
"Hehe probably." Amethyst laughed.  
"Ok, you're paying for it." Zircon pointed at Amethyst.  
"What?! Why me?! I don't have any money!"  
"Hellooooo! Crazy Gem who crashed my Reaper in the first place?!" Steven's pupils shrunk knowing where this was going, "H-Hold on! I can pay for it Zircon!"  
"Then how the heck is she gonna learn any consequences from this?!" Zircon snapped.  
"You know Steven, he kinda does have a point about that." Connie added. Amethyst ruffled her head as she was trying to think about what else to do, "Hold on! Why not have Pearl fix it?! She's pretty handy with fixing things!" This only seemed to make Zircon fume even more, "So now you're gonna drop this on someone else?!"  
"Hey! What do you think is better?! Having to pay some crummy repair guys for an ok job or you get Pearl to do it for free of charge and it'll work even better than it did before the dent?!" Zircon was about to respond, but was actually stumped, "Gh…ngh!...Just take me to the dang Gem…"

"Pearl!" Steven and them brought Zircon's motorcycle into the underpass of the Crystal Sanctum where there was a cave there that acted as a sort of makeshift garage, a little upgrade that the Gem's made for Pearl to tinker with things when the time was needed. Speaking of which, Pearl seemed to be working on something when the others walked in, "Oh! Steven, Connie, Amethyst….Zircon."  
"Pearl…" Zircon responded in kind.

"Um, what exactly are you guys doing here?" Pearl asked while wiping off some oil and dirt off her pearly white skin. "Ok, well Amethyst kinda-" Steven started up, but Pearl stopped, "You know what, if Amethyst was involved I think it's better to show me than tell me."  
"Ouch." Amethyst's eyes narrowed while Zircon showed Pearl his motorcycle with the giant dent in the front. "Oh my! Well, at least it wasn't as bad as I thought?" Pearl responded, looking over the dent.  
"Not as bad as you thought?! What has that gal done in the past that considers this not as bad?!" Zircon raged.  
"Trust me, it's better for you to not know, Zircon." Pearl responded.  
"So…can you fix it?" Zircon looked over the damage with Pearl as she merely smiled, "This is no problem whatsoever. I'll have it fixed probably within five hours. Why don't you all run along and do stuff while I get this fixed." Steven's personality bubbled as ideas were beginning to pop into his head. "Oh we can go to the arcade!" Connie started to get ideas too, "Or the park!"  
"The boardwalk?!"  
"The shops?!"  
"Get bits?!"  
"You know…if it's alright with you all, I think I might want to stay here…" Zircon winced in reaction from Steven and Connie's back and forth. "What? Why Zircon? This'll give you a chance to see Beach City." Steven smiled trying to convince the half-gem. Zircon merely looked back at Steven with his narrow eyed expression. However, it was Pearl who responded, "Steven, it's alright if he stays. You, Connie, and Amethyst go have fun." Amethyst smiled, "Alriiiiight! Let's go!" She ran on out, with Connie following. Steven stayed for a bit to ask, "Are you sure it's ok Pearl?" Pearl nodded, making Steven feel relaxed as he ran out to catch up with Connie and Amethyst. Zircon looked over at Pearl who began to fix the motorcycle, "I can't blame you for not trusting with me your bike, but you can trust me that I WILL fix it." She spoke. "I never said that…" Zircon looked away.  
"Heh, but it's all written all over your face." This made Zircon blush slightly in embarrassment, "It's just that…this vehicle is really precious to me."  
"Really? How so?"  
"It was…a gift. The only thing I have left from my mother." Pearl stopped for a moment to look over at Zircon. "I know that…you and my mother hated each other. So that's why I'm nervous with any of you guys around what used to be hers…"  
"Zircon…" Pearl stood up and walked over to Zircon, placing the end of a wrench against his chest, "Yes…I won't lie, I hated your mother. The things she did to me, my allies, even to Rose…I will never forgive her for any of that. But you…" Zircon's eyes focused on Pearl after she said that. "I learned the hard way how Steven isn't his mother, just as how you aren't your mother." A smile spread across Pearl's face before she went back to working on the motorcycle. "How can you be sure I'm not?...I've heard you say it yourself, Steven retained many of his mother's morals and personalities…"  
"There's one thing that makes me know you aren't like your mother. The fact is, you saved Steven." Zircon's eyes widened at Pearl's words, looking away and down. "If you were anything like your mother, you would've left them to die…You knew the personalities to have to be a good person, just like how Steven knew the same thing because his mother was a good person. You just…had a rougher time discovering those good personalities." After a brief moment of silence while Zircon was thinking, he started to walk outside. "Huh? Where are you going Zircon?" Pearl turned to ask.  
"…I can wait outside while you work. Don't wanna break your concentration on my bike after all…" He walked out of the cave and out of sight, but left Pearl with a smile on her face as she worked.

Outside, Zircon was leaning against the rocky cliff of the Crystal Sanctum before he heard the sound of an engine starting, making him shook out of deep thought. He booked it inside the cave to see his motorcycle running, standing, and looking even better than ever. "Wh-Whoa…Reaper!" Zircon looked legitimately happy as he hopped onto the motorcycle seat like a kid who just got a miniature ATV for Christmas, "Th-This is amazing! Are you sure this is the same Reaper I gave ya?!" Pearl laughed as she was covered in more dirt and oil. "Not only did I fix the dent, but I also retuned the needed updates to your motor parts plus two fresh coats of paint."

"I can tell! Reaper looks shinier now." He rubbed the side of his motorcycle, listening to the running motor, "Hehe it's purring like a kitten." Pearl then took hold of one of the handles and revved up the motor, making it sound even louder, "And it roars like a lion." Both Zircon and Pearl laughed before Zircon's face went solemn. Pearl noticed, patting his shoulder, "Why don't you go and try it out Zircon. Go and meet up with Steven and them at the boardwalk." Zircon looked over at Pearl before actually smiling. He moved it over to the entrance before revving it up again. "And Zircon…that moment just now makes me know you're a good boy." Zircon looked up out the entrance with a sad look on his face, wanting to thank Pearl. He just looked down though and revved up his bike once more before driving out of the cave. Pearl giggled to herself, knowing what Zircon was thinking, "You're welcome Zircon…"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

As Zircon was driving through Beach City on his motorcycle, his stomach suddenly started to grumble a little bit, ticked off that he wasn't able to get anything to eat yet today. While driving though, he passed by a shop that had the sign "Big Doughnut" on the front of it. Drifting his bike to a stop, Zircon thought to himself, "Well…today's a cheat day anyway." He smirked, hopping on off after parking his bike and walked on inside, not before putting his hoodie on first.  
Once Zircon walked in, he was greeted by a very bright smile. "Hello! Welcome to the Big Doughnut! My name is Sadie and I'll be your doughnut-teer today."

"Eeeeh…" Zircon's face was confused at what he should say to such an introduction. "Dangit Sadie, I told you to not say "doughnut-teer". It sounds very lame." Standing next to Sadie was the ever-so-sour Lars. "Well I don't see your lazy rear doing anything to liven this place up. You wanna know what people think when they see you? They feel like they're about to have a pain in the neck experience!" Zircon eyed the two back and forth as they spoke to each other, "Um…yeeeaaah I guess I'll just take a deluxe doughnut bag please."

"Okay! Give me a minute to fill one up please!" Sadie went to placing some random doughnut types in a brown bag. Lars was just merely staring at Zircon, feeling very judgmental. "The heck you wearing a jacket AND a hoodie for? It's in the middle of summertime." Lars's tone made Zircon's eye twitch lightly, "Obviously so I can have annoying idiots ask me questions like those that compromise my personal wants." Lars's eyes widened as Sadie started to laugh, "Oooooh! Maybe you should wear a jacket now to hide those burns you just got Lars!"

"Shut up Sadie!" Lars blurted out.

"I like this guy. What's your name? I haven't seen you around before." Sadie leaned up over the counter to try and get a good look at Zircon. "Um…I'm…" Zircon was hesitating slightly, still not used to telling people who he is.

"Hey Zircon!" Just in the nick of time, Steven, along with Connie and Amethyst, walked into the joint. Sadie waved over, "Hey Steven, nice to see you!" Lars however feels like he could be doing something better right now. "Why am I not surprised that Steven knows this guy. He technically knows everyone in this god-awful city."

"Lars, be nice. We've obviously got someone touring around the City." Steven walked over and leaned towards Sadie, "Oh, Zircon isn't touring here. He's actually going to be one of the Crystal Gems in a couple of days!" Zircon slammed his face into one of his palms, groaning at how Steven is still thinking that. Lars looked over at Zircon with a curious look and smirked slightly, "Wait. You mean those weird people who you hang out with that have those stupid gemstones pierced on them?" Lars slid over the counter and was now right in front of Zircon, eye to eye. "So, where's your lame gem piercing at?"

"Lars! Don't be rude!" Sadie called out from the counter. Zircon glared at Lars, "I really don't enjoy showing it…"

"Probably because it looks pretty ugly and you feel embarrassed about it." Lars laughed slightly, Amethyst actually starting to get pretty mad at this point, "Hey, lay off of him Lars!" Zircon's eye twitched slightly from Lars's insults. "If I didn't know any better, it's probably on his smug face." Lars then reached out and gripped onto Zircon's hood, making his eyes widen, "N-No! Get off!" Zircon tried to push Lars's hand off, but because of his panicking, he fell back onto the floor and his hoodie fell off in the process, revealing his green veined, pale-green skinned face to everyone. Sadie looked like she was about to scream, but quickly covered her mouth while Lars looked in downright disgust, "What the heck?! What's wrong with you?!" Lars then looked over at Steven and yelled at him, "How are you such good friends with the cool kids when you're friends with these…freaks!" When that one word slipped from Lars's lip, Zircon's eyes widened, hearing the word echo through his head.

In a split second, Lars was tackled from halfway across the room and held down, hard and rough, against the main counter by a now glaring, crimson eyed, teeth gritted Zircon. "A freak?! Is that what you think?!" He snapped, yelling at the top of his lungs. Lars was now scared out of his mind now, "Wh-Wh-What?! N-No, you're not a freak!" He tried to talk his way out of it, but the consequences are already falling on him. "How would YOU feel if the only thing you knew in your life was fear and ridicule?!" The grip on Lars's clothes from Zircon was tightening, making Lars yell in pain, "Ow! Stop! That hurts!" In full bridled rage, Zircon threw Lars down the counter, making him slide off of it and hit a wall. This made Steven and them look in shock-filled horror. Amethyst immediately started to try and hold Zircon back, "Zircon stop! He's learned his lesson!" Zircon kept trucking, forcing Amethyst off. He picked up Lars and slammed him into the wall now, "How about when you wake up EVERY, SINGLE MOMENT of your life, knowing that everyone in this world will hate you the moment they ever met you!?" Now, Steven stepped in between them and forced a bubble, sending Zircon back a couple feet, his grip so tight on Lars's collar that he actually ripped the cloth off when he was sent flying. Groaning, from what happened, Zircon leaned up, holding his head. When he opened his eyes, they were back to their normal green and they laid right upon a teary eyed, fear filled Lars who Sadie was comforting at the moment, "L-Lars its ok, calm down!..."

"Th-That freak just tried to kill me!" Zircon looked down at his hands to see the cloth from Lars's shirt still in them as his mouth gaped slightly in shock, "I-I…" Steven, Amethyst, and Connie ran over kneeling down to Zircon, "Zircon, what happened?! Are you ok?!" Steven gasped out. His pupils were shrinking by the second before Zircon pushed past all of them and ran out of the place, breathing heavily from guilt. "ZIRCON WAIT!" Steven was about to run after him until Amethyst quickly grabbed his wrist, "Steven, listen to me. I want you and Connie to go get Pearl and Garnet. I'll chase after him." Steven looked back at Amethyst, nodding and heading on out in the direction of the Crystal Sanctum, followed by Connie, "Please make sure he's okay Amethyst." Amethyst gave Connie thumbs up before running in the direction that Zircon went in.

"Zircoooon!" Amethyst was calling out in the now dark streets, the waning moon hanging over from above just giving a faint light to see the boardwalk. "Oh…where the heck is he? Zircoooon!" While searching, Amethyst looked over at one of the boardwalks piers to see a figure sitting at the very end, "There he is." She smiled, running on over behind him, "Zircon, there you are. I've been looking all over for you." Zircon just stayed silent, making Amethyst's eyes sullen. "Zircon?..."

"He feared me Amethyst…"

"What?" Amethyst stepped back, his comment catching her off guard. Zircon held his hands out in front of him, looking down at them, "It…felt good…" Amethyst slowly walked up beside Zircon to see his face. It was all teary eyed, "And I hated at how much it felt good...!" His fists clenched, digging his nails into his palms. "Why…Why do people look at me this way and I enjoy it?!..."He buried his face into his hands, Amethyst now sitting right next to him, both of their feet dangling off of the pier. She slowly placed a hand on his shoulder, "I…understand completely Zircon…" Zircon glanced over at Amethyst, "Wh-…What?..."

"Zircon…when I was born, I was made here on Earth…however, I was created in one of the Homeworld Gems Kindergartens, a place where Gems are created and bred into warriors…Me?...I was one of them, but…my creation was rushed and I came out like this, different."

"…What happened?"

"I was found by Rose, Pearl, and Garnet. However, that was when the rebellion ended."

"So how are me and you similar?..."

"When I found out about my origins and how I was a defect…I felt like a freak…" Zircon slowly looked away as Amethyst was talking. "I was created to be an evil gem and that thought always lingered in my mind. I would just…do all of these really reckless things that would make people scared…and I feel like I liked it too, no matter how much I said I didn't like it." Zircon was silent for a second before speaking, "What…what did you do about these thoughts?"

"Honestly? I'm still fighting those thoughts today."

"What?!" Zircon almost fell off of the pier in shock, "B-But you don't even seem like you're going through that stuff! How are you able to do it?!"

"It's simple...Steven and the others." A smile slowly formed on Amethyst's lips while Zircon's mouth dropped slightly from the statement. "Th-Them?..."

"Zircon, you never know how helpful friends are until you've reached the lowest point in your life. The reason why you're having such a hard time seeing that is because most of your life was lowest point." Zircon thought about Amethyst's words, as Steven's words from a couple days ago were echoing in his head again, "Friends…family…are they really that amazing? I…I would think it would be troublesome."

"Haha, don't get me wrong. Sometimes I can't stand the others." Amethyst laughed, making Zircon even more confused. "But when push comes to shove, I know I can count on them…It took me recently to figure that out, thanks to Steven." Her eyes narrowed, still having that smile on her face as it looked like she herself was about to cry. "A-Amethyst…" Zircon really didn't know what to say. He's never been talked to so...equally. All he did was place his hand on Amethyst's shoulder, making her actually blush slightly. "Thank you…" Zircon looked over and actually smiled, Amethyst's blush only getting darker and her eyes widened, "Eh! N-N-No problem!..."

Zircon leaned his head back, looking up at the sky before closing his eyes, "You guys can come out now. I know you've been standing there since halfway through our conversation." Poking their heads out from behind some wooden pillars on the pier was Steven and Connie. Amethyst jumped up, "Hey! I thought you guys were going to get Pearl!" Steven merely smiled, "I kinda thought you had this under control."

"Ngh! Y-You!..." Amethyst was flustered as something for the first time happened. Zircon laughed. Actually it was more like a chuckle. They all just stared at him, wide-eyed. "What?...I can laugh too." Then all together, they started to laugh from Zircon's comment.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Game Over. Player 2 is cooked." Zircon's eye twitched at the blaring announcer of the arcade game, Beat the Meat. "Haha, in your face Zircon!" Amethyst danced around in triumph shaking the drumstick controls in her hands. "Ngh…these games make no sense to me whatsoever." Steven was over near the arcade's prize stand with a pile of tickets next to him while Zircon was ranting, "I'll take the big one~!"

"I mean, you've got a meat-related rhythm game, a destruction derby racing game, and a four way air hockey board. What's next, a 4D, survival horror, on rail shooting game?" Steven stopped right next to Zircon with a giant, plush chicken and gasped, "They have Zombie Shooter 4D?!" Zircon pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing out from Steven's naivety. "No…Steven. No they don't."

Not a moment too soon, screams could be heard right outside the arcade. "Ah! What was that?!" Steven quickly summoned his shield followed by Zircon pulling out his sickle dagger, smiling, "It sounds like fun." Zircon ran on outside of the arcade's entrance only to be immediately launched into a wall by a massive claw. Steven and Amethyst ran out to see Zircon implanted into said wall, "Zircon! Are you ok?!" One of his eyes opened and twitched slightly with a glare, "Peachy…" He responded before falling off of the wall.

"Look!" Amethyst pointed out to what decked Zircon. It was a crab-inspired, Corrupted Gem. "Whoa! That thing looks huge!" Steven shouted. Zircon stood up finally and only smiled, "Heh, that only means the fall will be even greater!" Zircon jumped up as green energy formed around one of his fists. A skeletal structure formed around his hand, forming some sort of bone gauntlet, "Take this!" Zircon slammed it straight down onto the top of the crab's shell, only to have his bone gauntlet shatter into pieces. "Wh-What?!" Zircon's body once again met the backhand of the crab's claw, launching him into the same wall, but this time sideways. "Man, today's not your day, isn't it Zircon?" Amethyst leaned forward to see if he was ok. Zircon just growled in anger, "I'm gonna be having seafood tonight!"

"Wait a minute skele-boy." Amethyst stood in front of Zircon before he could run at it again, "Didn't you see? That thing's shell is too powerful. We gotta find a way to get its softer underbelly."

"Well how do you suppose we do THAT, Amethyst?!" Zircon argued only making Amethyst smile, "Watch and learn. Steven!"

"Huh?" Steven looked at Amethyst only to smile brightly, "Oh! Right!" Both of them gripped each other's right hand as a harmless, huge explosion of purple smoke engulfed the area. Zircon was coughing from it as he tried to see through it, "Wh-What the heck?!"

When the smoke cleared, instead of Steven and Amethyst, someone else was in their place. Swiping the smoke aside with her giant yo-yo, Smoky Quartz stood before the Corrupted Gem. "Heya everybody, Smoky Quartz is back in the house~!" Zircon stared in confused shock, "Wh-What?!"

"Hehe careful not to drool their Zirky-boy." Smoky Quartz pointed at Zircon's dropped mouth, quickly pushing it back up with her finger, "B-But. H-How…" He couldn't even be able to find the right words he was too much in awe. "Now focus Zirky-boy, I need you to move when I say so." Smoky Quartz readied up one of her yo-yos as Zircon shook his head, getting back into the game. Throwing her yo-yo down into the board-walk, breaking a hole into it, Smoky Quartz pulled down on her yo-yo string bringing the actual yo-yo ball back up through the board-walk that the Corrupted Gem was standing on. It hit the Corrupted Gem's underbelly, launching it up into the air and leaving it completely vulnerable, "Now Zirky-boy!" Zircon's eyes gleamed red as he conjured a skeleton hand to launch him up towards the Corrupted Gem, slicing right through its underside, making the Gem go poof, right back to its basic Gem form.

Zircon landed on the boardwalk just in time to see Steven and Amethyst reform into their original selves, "Oh yeaaaaaah! Smoky came, she saw, and she kicked Corrupted butt!" Amethyst cheered while Steven laughed out. Zircon picked up the Corrupted Gem and handed it to Steven, "Here…" Steven quickly looked at it before bubbling it up and sending it back to the Crystal Sanctum, "Thanks Zircon, you really helped out in that fight!"

"Oh please, I'm certainly not the one who deserves the credit here. Who was that?" Zircon asked. "Oh! That was Smoky Quartz, the fusion Gem of me and Amethyst." Steven explained.

"Gem…fusion?" Zircon tilted his head, a solid question mark hanging right above him. "Mhm! Usually if there's an enemy that's too strong for us alone to take on, two of us can fuse into an even stronger Gem." Amethyst continued, "And that there was the bonefied and bodacious, Smoky Quuaaartz~!" Zircon now had his chin in his hand, pondering in deep thought, "I wanna try it." This shocked both Steven and Amethyst, "Wait, what?!"

"You heard me, I wanna try it." Zircon repeated. "Ehehe, well, it's not that simple, Zircon." Steven shrugged, "Fusion is a very complicated and important thing for the Gems. Garnet explained to me that when two Gems fuse, it's almost as important as technically marriage to humans."

"Hmmm, I see." Zircon thought once more, "I still wanna try it." Steven and Amethyst fell over from Zircon's persistence, "Why is it so intriguing to you anyway?" Amethyst questioned.

"Ever since I started fighting these Corrupted Gems, I've always wanted to find a way to make myself stronger. And this Fusion thing sounds like just the thing I need to get that strength." Steven and Amethyst looked at each other a little, "Well ok. We'll show you how to fuse." Amethyst smiled.

Down on the beach near the Crystal Sanctum, Amethyst had Zircon standing in front of her while Steven sat over at the side. "Alright, what are we waiting for? I wanna get stronger." Zircon smirked, hitting one of his fists into his other palm. Amethyst quickly bonked Zircon on the top of his head, "Ow!" Zircon held his head in annoyance, "What was that for?!"

"First step to fusion, never fuse with someone for something as petty as wanting to be stronger. I know this better than anyone." Amethyst's eyes narrowed. Zircon's expression itself turned a little more serious at the matter. "Like Steven said, fusion to us Gems is like a human marriage, matrimony. The two Gems must be in sync, not just in body, but also mind and emotion. To some of us, fusion is a last resort whenever we're facing someone strong. To others though, it's more important than that, like Garnet."

"Wait a minute, Garnet is a fusion?" Zircon leaned over, curious. Amethyst nodded, "Garnet is a fusion built off of the love and trust between the two Gems Ruby and Sapphire. If you ever want to have one of the most substantial examples of a perfect fusion, just look over at Garnet. She's a living model of a fusion that has her own identity." Zircon nodded in understanding to Amethyst's lecture, "Ok, so how does fusing actually work." Amethyst snorted in laughter at Zircon's question, "That's where I think you might not like the idea of fusing Zircon."

"Sorry, what?"

"The sort of "ceremony" that Gems do before fusing is…well…a dance."

"I'm sorry whaaaaaat?!" Zircon jumped back, holding his arm out in front. "A dance?! You've gotta be kidding me right now! I saw you and Steven fuse by just grabbing each other's hands!"

"Steven…is a bit of a special case." Amethyst scratched the top of her head.

"Because he's a half-gem?"

"I actually don't think so. I think it's more of the binding moment that formed our fusion. I mean, Ruby and Sapphire don't really dance either they just spin around as Ruby holds Sapphire in the air."

"So you're saying that the fusion dance is for people who are just starting out with it until their "bond", or whatever, strengthens?" Zircon rubbed the back of his head, trying to get this.

"Yeah! You got the idea Zircon!" Amethyst smacked Zircon's back hard, making his eyes widen from slight pain.

"Alright! Let's get to this!" Amethyst started dancing, doing her usual shimmying and suggestive dance moves. Zircon's eyes closed as he was trying to think what dance suited him before they quickly opened up and started a mix of hand gestures from vogue dancing and leg work from hip-hop dancing. Finishing up the dance, Zircon place his hands together with Amethyst placing one of her feet on it only for Zircon to lift her up, flipping in the air. When she came back down, Zircon caught her in his arms and finished with them both staring at each other.

"…Hold on!" Zircon dropped Amethyst, landing in the sand, "Ow!" She rubbed the back of her head while Zircon looked at his hands, "I don't get it…why didn't it work?"

"It's just as Amethyst explained earlier." Zircon, Amethyst, and Steven all looked up to see Garnet speaking. "G-Garnet!" Amethyst quickly stood up, brushing the sand off of her.

"As I said, it's just as Amethyst explained earlier." Garnet continued, "Both Gems must be synced in not just body, but also mentally and emotionally. Out of those three things…one of them must be in complete shambles for you to not allow you to fuse." Zircon looked up Garnet, intimidated by what she said. After all, she was technically an expert on the subject at hand. "Unless you fix whatever is in shambles, you'll never be able to fuse with anyone…" Garnet then swiftly turned around and headed back up to the Crystal Sanctum. "G-Garnet!" Amethyst chased after Garnet thinking she was hard on Zircon, leaving him and Steven behind. Zircon was looking down at the sand. "Zircon?..." Steven walked over placing his hand on Zircon's back. "Who was I kidding?..." Zircon pulled his hoodie back over his head, "Fusing?...I didn't think that would've been a thing for me. It's always been just me…" Steven's expression turned sadder, seeing Zircon like this, "Zircon, will you be alright?" For a first time, Zircon lightly rubbed the top of Steven's head, "Don't worry…I'll be fine. I think…I'll just turn in for the night. See ya." Zircon walked around Steven and headed on up the trail leading to Beach City.  
"…See ya…" Steven looked down at the sand, staring at Zircon's shoeprints in the sand.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Hey Steven, heads up!" The volleyball came straight over at Steven before it was blocked and hit back over the net by Sour Cream, "Whoa! Thanks SC." It was Steven, Connie, Amethyst, the Big Doughnut crew, and the Cool Kids of Beach City all playing with each other in a game of volleyball. Zircon though was just sitting to the side laying in a foldout chair under an umbrella with a book in hand. "Whoohoo! That's another point for us~!" Amethyst called out. The mayor's son, Bucky looked over at Lars on the other team, pulling his shades down, "Come on Lars, you're not moving fast." Lars was actually covered up in band-aids and bandage wraps, "Oh gee, I wonder why? It wasn't like I was thrown into a wall or anything!?" Lars directed a yell over to Zircon who merely just looked back at Lars with a smirk and a wave. "Gh! Insensitive little-"

"Oh come on Lars he apologized yesterday." Sadie smiled.

"That wasn't an apology! It was a monotone annoyance!"

"Hey, take what you can get from me." Zircon called out from the side.

"So Steven, what exactly can you tell us about that Zircon over there? He hasn't really talked much this entire time." Sour Cream sat down next to Steven in the sand while everyone was taking a break from the game. Steven smiled, "Well, I think I can only describe Zircon as more of a man of action than words. He's really nice though." When Zircon heard Steven say the word "nice", one of his eyes twitched again along with a vein hanging over his forehead. "Heh, I don't know SC, I think that mysterious nature of him makes him look attractive." Jenny commented with a laugh only to have Zircon glare over at her, "Eeek! But he can also be pretty scary sometimes."

"Tch…teenage females…" Zircon muttered under his breathe.

"Heh, wow, it seems like everyone here is starting to grow on Zircon. Haha, whether he likes it or not." Connie laughed with Steven whose face quickly turned a little down, looking over at Lars who was using his bruises and stuff to look cool in front of the Cool Kids, "Well, not everyone…" Connie lightly patted Steven's shoulder, "Hey Steven, it's just Lars. Last time I checked he doesn't really like anyone."

"It's not just Lars…it's also Garnet. Ever since she heard about Zircon being the son of Bloodstone, she's just refusing to give him a chance."

"Hmmmm. Hey Steven, I have an idea." Connie pulled Steven in and whispered something into his ear, "Huh? You think I should?"

"Mhm! Hey Zircon!" Connie called over.

"Huh?" Zircon looked up from his book.

"Hey, Steven's gotta go do something real quickly up at the Sanctum! We need a substituuuute!"

"Ngh! What?! You're joking right?!" Soon everyone seemed to like the idea.

"Yeeeeah~! Come on skele-boy!"

"You'll like the vibes that flow from an intense game of Volleyball."

"I bet you're really athletic with that toned body of yours~!" Zircon's eye twitched over and over from each comment made until he was eventually dragged out by Connie, "Come on Zircon!"

"Whoa! Y-You got some strength behind you for someone your age!" Zircon shouted out, trying to struggle out of Connie's grip. Connie winked over at Steven, giving him the ok for what she told him to do.

Steven walked on up to the Crystal Sanctum and headed inside to find Pearl making snacks for everyone over in the kitchen, "Steven, what are you doing up here? Why aren't you playing with everyone else down at the beach." She laughed, looking out the window, "It seems you guys finally got Zircon to start playing. You know, I was wrong to judge him so harshly when he first arrived. I guess it doesn't matter who your parents were as long as you turned out for the better." Pearl sighed out, "I wish Garnet could see it…"

"Actually Pearl, that's why I came inside. I need to ask Garnet about Bloodstone." Pearl became a little panicky at Steven's reply, "Wh-What? Steven I-I don't that's a-"

"No…let him ask." Garnet was standing near the doorway that led to each of the Gems' rooms.

"Garnet, do you think he's ready to know?" Pearl walked over.

"Yes…come with me Steven. I'll tell you everything there is about Bloodstone." Garnet took Steven's hand as she brought him up to his room, placing him on the bed. "Steven, I know you know that war is very unhappy and sad."

"I know…but I want to understand why you're so persistent on your thoughts towards Zircon." Garnet then took her shades off to look at Steven. She looked…sad, almost depressed even. "Steven, the reason why I'm so harsh on Zircon is not just because of his mother, but…also the nature of Bloodstones."

"What do you mean?"

"Back during the war, while I was fighting Bloodstone, she defeated me and forced Ruby and Sapphire to separate from each. Bloodstone was dead-set on having Rose submit and to defeat the rebellion…so she took Sapphire hostage and wanted to exchange her life for Rose's."

"Wh-What does that have to do with Zircon?"

"Everything, Steven. Remember what Pearl said about Bloodstone's rank?"

"She said that Bloodstone was the commander of Pink Diamond's forces and a strategical genius. That last thing apparently being uncommon for Bloodstones."

"There, that last thing you said." Garnet pointed at Steven. "Bloodstone was a strategical genius."

"Huh? I-I'm confused." Steven rubbed his head.

"Steven, before Bloodstone joined Pink Diamond's colony, she was the military commander for Yellow Diamond's army and also a student of Blue Diamond. Not only was she strong and dangerous, but…she was also etiquette and a mannerist."

"Huh?" Steven leaned in close to listen to Garnet.

"When Ruby saw Bloodstone holding Sapphire hostage…there was no sign of that mannerist. All Ruby could see was the eyes of a cold blooded killer. Bloodstones only have one reason to exist…violence." Steven's eyes widened, "That's not true!"

"Steven listen to me, that's why I don't trust Zircon!"

"Zircon can't be like that! He's kind!"

"Remember what he did to Lars!?" That shut Steven up, remembering how Zircon snapped at the Big Doughnut. "Steven…there's nothing wrong with you being friends with him…but I'm not going to let someone stay with us who can potentially hurt Pearl, Amethyst or…you…" Garnet got teary eyed as she covered her face with her hand. Steven held Garnet's other hand, "Garnet…I never-"

"Aaaaaaaaah!"

"That was Jenny!" Steven jumped off of his bed and looked out his bedroom window. "Oh no!" On the beach, it was none other than a Corrupted Gem, this time a Mantis-Inspired one. "Pearl!" Garnet called out as she ran downstairs. "I know! I saw!" The two ran on out to give immediate aid.

Zircon was already at the Mantis struggling in fighting it while Amethyst stayed close to everyone else, trying to keep them safe. "Amethyst!" Garnet called out, running over.

"Garnet, Pearl, help Zircon!" She yelled back seeing Zircon get launched back by one of the Corrupted Gem's pincer hands. As it was stabbing down to finish off Zircon, Garnet got between them and gripped hold of the end of the pincer, stopping it in its tracks. Pearl leaped off of Garnet's shoulder and stabbed her spear right into the Corrupted Gem's body, making it shriek and move back. "Pearl, get everyone into the Sanctum!" Garnet ordered.

"Wait! I can help!" Zircon called out.

"And what, use that anger of yours to put us in even more danger?" Garnet lashed back, making Zircon go speechless. Pearl quickly helped Zircon up, "Come on Zircon, we need to help everyone get to safety." Zircon looked on back at Garnet who was punching the Corrupted Gem's pincers away every time it tried to stab at her. "Come on Garnet, just a little longer…" The Gem's attacks were too fierce and fast for Garnet to keep up with forever. She was losing ground. After the Gem's next pincer strike at Garnet, it knocked her back onto her knees. She was starting to breathe heavily from exhaustion now as she looked up to see the Gem ready for the final strike, slashing it down, "Steven…" Garnet muttered as she braced for the coming attack. Seconds passed by, making Garnet's eyes widen and quickly look up.

"Me and you weren't done yet, were we?..." Zircon summoned a bone blade up to block the Corrupted Gem's attack. "What? I thought I told ya to-" Garnet started before Zircon interrupted her, "Look! I'm not one of your little Crystal underlings, so I don't have to listen to you! Now, are you just gonna sit there, or are you going to help me?!" This spurred a fire inside of Garnet's chest forcing herself to her feet again.

Pushing the Corrupted Gem's pincer back with the bone blade, Zircon summoned to skeletal hands to grip onto both of the Gem's pincers, pulling it down towards them, "Finish it!" Zircon yelled to Garnet who ran an up the arms of the Gem before leaping up and slamming her gauntlet into its face so hard, that its body got separated from its arms before poofing into its basic gem state. Everyone was cheering back at the Crystal Sanctum too see the fight over. Garnet looked back in time to see Zircon fall back into the sand, "Whew…that…that took a lot out of me." He breathed heavily. Garnet didn't know what to say. For one of the rare moments, she was left speechless. "I can…see him…" Inside Garnet's third eye, she could finally see something with Zircon. He was sitting with them all inside of the Crystal Sanctum smiling and laughing with them all. "Could he…really not be…?"

"Hey heh…what's with the waterworks?" Zircon smirked as he struggled to lift his head up. Garnet didn't realize it, but tears were flowing down her cheeks, "Zircon…" Garnet smiled before the two began to lightly laugh at both of their conditions.

The sun was now setting over the sea, basking the sky, land, and water in an orange glow. Zircon stood before Steven and Crystal Gems, knowing now was the time for him and Steven to settle their bet. "Well Steven?..." Zircon stared over at Steven who looked up at each of the Gems.

"Zircon, you're a really cool guy! You got a yes in my book!" Amethyst gave a thumbs up.

"You know, I could always use an extra set of mechanical hands around here." Pearl laughed, giving a yes.

"Garnet?" Steven looked up to see an expressionless, cross-armed look from Garnet. Steven couldn't believe his eyes, "W-Well? Say something…" Garnet looked away, actually making Zircon's expression sad. He looked down with a pitiful smile on his face, "Can't say I'm surprised…you can't change everyone in this world." Steven looked back at Zircon, almost on the verge of crying, "Z-Zircon!..." Zircon turned and began to walk away.

"Wait…" Garnet's voice made him stop in his tracks. "I just have one question." Zircon turned around to give his full attention to a now smiling Garnet, "Do you ever snore in your sleep?" Zircon's mouth slowly dropped open before being tackled into the sand by Steven, "THAT'S A YES! Hahahaha~!"

"Gah! Y-You idiot! Get off of me!" Zircon thrashed about with Steven on top of him. Amethyst and Pearl both sighed out before they started to laugh too, followed by Garnet. Seeing everyone so happy, Zircon couldn't help but smile himself as he thought to himself…

So…even I can have a family too…


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Zircon rushed into the Crystal Sanctum, a sweat line breaking on his brow as he jumped behind the kitchen counter. Sitting up against the counter, supply doors, he was breathing heavily, "I-…I think I lost him." That was when the door slowly creaked open, a loud set of stomping footsteps. Zircon's eyes widened in fear as he tried to look around the corner from his peripheral vision, unknowing of the massive shadow that loomed over top of the kitchen counter looking down at the defenseless half-gem. Once the shadow pounced at Zircon, he yelled out, "Steven!" As he was tackled down by the shadow.

Steven ran inside from the front door and looked over the kitchen counter to see a big, pink, fluffy ball of a sweetheart, lying on top of Zircon. "Aaaaawe Lion is playing with you Zircon~!" Steven cheered, Zircon's voice muffling under Lion's fur. Steven slowly pushed Lion off, "Alright Lion, you know Zircon doesn't like it when you pounce him like that." As soon as Lion was off of him, Zircon let out a heavy gasp, breathing in needed air. "Why…does he…keep…DOING THAT?!" Zircon shouted out.

"Hehe, he just likes playing with you, Zircon." Zircon placed his arm behind his head, stretching, while Steven was talking.

"Darn…I need something to happen right now, I'm so bored." Zircon sighed out. "Why doesn't Garnet take us out on missions with her?"

"Well, Garnet likes to do things herself sometimes and not want it to get in the way of the human life we need to have too."

"Well what if I don't like human life?" Zircon's eyes narrowed, comedically. "Besides, if we're supposed to be living a "human" life as well along with our "Gem" life, why the hell aren't we in school?" Steven was about to answer before the Gem Transporter in the back of the room lit up, transporting Garnet back from her mission. "Garnet, you're back!" Steven leaped up Garnet who hugged him back with one arm. "Heh, morning Steven. Morning Zircon." Garnet waved over at Zircon who looked away before waving back gently. "So how did the mission go Garnet?" Steven was jumping up and down in excitement. "Actually, that's why I came back. I think I underestimated the situation of this group of Corrupted Gems. I'm going to need some help." Hearing Garnet say this, Zircon jumped up in anticipation. "Now, where's Pearl and Amethyst." Garnet looked around, making Zircon slump over, groaning. She gazed over to Zircon and laughed some, "I'm just joking. I think you may be the perfect person for this job after all, Zircon."

"Huh?! Really?!" His anticipation came back where Steven was just as anticipated as him, "Zircon you get to go on a mission with Garnet! Lucky~!" Zircon gazed up with closed eyes, getting a big head, "Well, I AM a really strong Gem after all." He smiled. Garnet chuckled even more from Zircon's pride, "Alright then, let's get going." Her and Zircon stepped up onto the Gem Transporter where she waved her hand horizontally to activate it. Steven waved from outside, "Good luck guys!" Before the two were transported out in a beam of light.

The beam shot them over in the middle of an arctic Tundra where Zircon quickly crossed his arms together, "Holy!...I-If I knew this was where we were going, I would've worn a heavier set of jackets!..."

"Don't worry, the place we're heading to is inside." Garnet spoke, beginning to walk.

"Really?...Inside where?" Zircon's eyebrow arched up in a bit of worry.

"Inside there." Garnet pointed over to a deep, dark, ice cave. One of Zircon's eyes widened and the pupil shrank as his other eye twitched, "Ok…I KNOW I've seen this in a horror movie!..."

"Hehe, not getting cold feet now huh Zircon?" Zircon glared up at Garnet after that horrible pun she made. "What? Scared?! No freaking way! If anything, whatever's in there should be scared of me!" Zircon started to stomp on inside the ice cave, Garnet following behind with a smirk on her face.

Inside, the ice cave was quiet. Not even the sound of the heavy wind could be heard from within. "Man…what kind of Corrupted Gems lives in THIS kind of environment?"

"You'll see soon enough." As they walked down miles into the cave, Zircon could soon hear crackling sounds followed by multiple footsteps. "Eh…what was that?" Garnet quickly slid behind a boulder, pulling Zircon behind it with her, "Look over carefully…" Garnet spoke as Zircon slowly looked up over the said boulder, not believing what he saw. Over in a large clearing in the cave there were walking skeletons of multiple things animals and humans alike. "Wh-What?..."

"That's not all. Look over there." Garnet pointed in the back of the cave, glowing, was a sickly green gem fragment. "Look familiar to you Zircon?" Garnet eyed over at him while Zircon peered over his shoulder to look at where his gem was, "So that's why you brought me here."

"I was able to take out those skeletons before, but that gem kept bringing them back to life and I can't even touch it. I think you may have a different result from trying to grab it." Not even telling him twice, Zircon dashed out towards the group of skeletons. "Huh…doesn't waste any time." Garnet smiled, running after him.

One of the skeletons heard the fast-pace steps approaching it, but once it looked back it found its skull getting knocked off of its body by Zircon's foot. That said skeleton's head barreled right into another skeleton's body, making it break apart like a group of bowling pins after a strike. Meanwhile, Garnet was knocking skeletons away, left and right, clearing a way for Zircon to get over to the Gem that was high up on a lifted pillar of ice. "Zircon!" Garnet called him over, placing her two hands together. Zircon jumped on and was vaulted up to the top to look at the glowing, streaming, green energy of the gem fragment. He was entranced by it…hypnotized even, by the glowing light. However, Garnet's voice broke him out of it quickly, "Zircon! Anytime now please!" The skeletons that they took care of earlier were forming back together. A skeletal dog leaped and pounced on top of Garnet who found herself trying to keep the skeletal dog's fangs from snapping at her throat. Quickly, Zircon took hold of the Gem and pulled it right out of the socket it was wedged in. Every single skeleton in the room fell apart after that, making Garnet sigh out in relief.

Once the gem fragment was in his hands though, Zircon was getting shocked by green-colored lightning, "AAAAAAAAH!"

"Zircon!" Garnet looked up to see Zircon fall off of the ice pillar, catching him in her arms. He wasn't moving a single inch, making her panic. "Oh god! Zircon. Zircon!" She lightly smacked his face trying to see if he was knocked out before placing her head on his chest. She sighed out, "There's a heartbeat." Surprisingly, Zircon gasped out with his eyes opening up sharply. He jolted up, almost hitting heads with Garnet. "Zircon are you ok?! What happened?"

"I…I-I saw mother."

"What?"

"I mean…it was a vision of her." He looked down at the fragment that he was still gripping onto, tightly. Holding it up, he stared at it in an analyzing notion. "I think…this fragment used to belong to a Bloodstone soldier under my mother's command."

"Zircon, please tell me everything you saw…" Garnet held his shoulder just in case what he saw was too much for him to talk about. Zircon looked down for a little while before speaking, "While I was unconscious, my eyes opened up. But…what I was seeing was not from my own eyes. It was a soldier…a dying one. Next thing I knew, he was being held up in my mother's arms. She was crying…" Garnet's mouth opened slightly, "And?..."

"She said 'No'. 'Please no, don't let them die like this'…From what I got, I believe her and her troops were ambushed by…" He stopped, his heading cocking a little towards Garnet. "Zircon…"

"No…I can't blame you…it was war after all…right?..." His voice choked up on that last word. Worried, Garnet held Zircon's face up by his chin. He was in full tears, crying. Not like any of the other times though. This was worse. "Garnet…why was mother so kind whenever she wasn't fighting?...Wh-…Why must war change people like that?!" He rested his head under her chin, bawling now. She quickly wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly, remembering all of the people who were destroyed or even fractured from the war. His cries echoed into the vast emptiness of the cave until it was eventually silent.

Garnet and Zircon walked on out from the entrance of the cave, the two walking very close to each other. "Are you sure you want to keep it Zircon?" Garnet looked down to him.

"This fragment was still in deep guilt from his death in the war…what if there are other Gems like this that were lost in the different parts of the world? If they were a part of my mother's army…that means it's my responsibility to put them to rest and carry the burden that they once had for them." Garnet wrapped an arm around Zircon, placing her hand on his opposite shoulder. "Zircon, maybe I was wrong. Maybe this kindness of yours…it was from your mother after all." She smiled, the Gem Transporter having coming up into view.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"Absolutely not!" Pearl yelled out.

"What?! Come on Pearl!" Steven whined. It was them and Zircon who were in the middle of the kitchen, talking about making a visit somewhere, "Steven, just because Zircon drives it around all the time doesn't mean it's a safe vehicle!"

"I have to agree with Pearl on this one Steven. Motorcycles are very dangerous vehicles that only people with cautious and focused mindsets can drive." Zircon explained.

"Why thank you Zircon." Pearl smiled rather smug-like.

"Which is why, of course, he'll be perfectly fine with me driving."

"What?!" Pearl now looked over at Zircon with an angrier and protective look, "As said before, absolutely not, Zircon!"

"Pearl, Pearl, Pearl, ever since you've known me, how many accidents have I been in with my motorcycle?" Pearl stared at Zircon with narrowed, judging eyes. "…Okay, so you have a reason to be worried." Zircon sighed out.

"Come on Pearl, you know that Zircon will be extra careful if it's me on the bike with him!" Steven tugged at Pearl's skirt while he was whining.

"Steven, when I make a decision, it's final." Pearl then turned around and started to wash the dishes as Zircon leaned sideways towards Steven and whispered, "I'll start the bike. You grab the helmets."

"I heard that!" Pearl turned back on her heel.

"Scatter!" Zircon and Steven split up, going with their plan.

Their dash for the bike was successful where within a couple minutes, Steven and Zircon were on the road, revving Reaper down it and tearing up the asphalt with Steven holding on tightly to Zircon's back. "So Steven, where on earth are we going anyway?"

"Oh, it's a surprise Zircon! Just turn down this pass right here!" Zircon turned sharply right, driving down a dirt path off into a wide grassland area. A minute or two later, they eventually arrived at a red barn surrounded by a brown fence line. Zircon drifted to a stop, propping up his motorcycle's kickstand. "So Steven, what exactly is this place and what did you mean by 'it's a surprise'?" Steven didn't answer Zircon's question as he ran over to the barn's entrance and yelled up, "Peridooooot! Lapiiiiiis!" Looking out from a window on the second floor of the barn popped out two heads. "Steven!" They both yelled. Lapis leaped out with Peridot on her back, releasing her water wings to give them a slow landing to the ground where Steven was at. Zircon was rather impressed with what he just saw, walking up to the three as they talked, "It's been so long Steven. How is everything?" Lapis asked.

"That's actually why I'm here. Since last time we saw each other, I made a new friend." Steven explained. Lapis and Peridot looked at each other in wonder, but not really surprised since it was Steven. "So, who's your friend?" Peridot leaned forward as Zircon came up from behind Steven, his hood thrown over his head, "Whoa!" Peridot jumped back getting scared by Zircon's sudden appearance, Lapis being a little shocked herself. "Zircon, what did I say about the hood?" Steven lectured, making Zircon lean back comically embarrassed, "Tch…it's a habit." He responded, taking his hood off. Both Lapis and Peridot's eyes widened once they got a glimpse of Zircon's green veined face. "Oh um…he's…interesting?" Lapis smiled lightly, trying to not sound judgemental.

"What the heck is wrong with his face?" Peridot still needed to work on her way of talking to people though. Zircon glared down at her, with the usual eye twitch, as Peridot quickly hid behind Lapis. "My face looks like this is because I'm a half-gem…" Zircon's expression went back to his normal, uninterested look.

"So you're like Steven." Lapis held a finger to her lip in thought. "Heh, well I hope you're like him. Steven is the sweetest person I've ever met since I came to Earth." Peridot groaned at Lapis's last comment. "Eh! Oh Peridot, y-you're getting up there too, eheh…" Lapis let out a nervous laugh with Peridot continuing the conversation, "So if he's a half-gem, who the heck is his gem?" Remembering being yelled at by Zircon last time, Steven stayed quiet, allowing Zircon to reveal that information at his own leisure. Zircon looked down at Steven and smiled in thanks before looking back over at the two gems, "Well…my mother is Bloodstone."

"Bloodstone?! As in Bloodstone the Ravenous~?!" Peridot was…surprisngly really excited about this, making Zircon shocked in the process, "Um, yes." He tilted his head in response. Peridot took Zircon's hand and quickly shook it, not letting go as she spoke, "Holy cow! THE great Bloodstone the Ravenous, in the flesh! Well, genetically speaking." She laughed, finally letting go of Zircon's hand.

"You knew my mother?" Zircon asked, rather curious of why Peridot had that reaction.

"Are you kidding me?! Bloodstone was a hero back on Homeworld! Before I was even a Gem Navigator, I heard tales of Bloodstone's exploits during the great Crystal Gem Rebellion! Her intellect, her demeanor, her strength~! Aha~! She was what every Homeworld Gem aspired to be when they became of value to the Diamonds~!" Zircon rubbed the back of his head, laughing slightly, "Well um…nice to know there's a fan among us here."

"Lapis, isn't this gre-" While Peridot was trying to talk to Lapis, Zircon noticed a looming shadow over his head. Thinking on instincts, his whole body flipped back just before a giant hand made of water slammed into the ground where he once stood. Over behind Peridot, Lapis was looking straight at Zircon with a stare of hate and disgust. "Lapis?!" Steven was actually surprised about this, only seeing Lapis act like this whenever Jasper was involved.

"Steven, Peridot, don't get in my way!" Water from a nearby lake that Peridot made started to surround Lapis, making Zircon pull out his sickle dagger. He was ready if a fight was to break out. Steven quickly got in front of the two, "Lapis, what are you doing?!"

"I mean it Steven! Stay out of my way!" Lapis thrusted her hand forward, the water surrounding her was wrapping around, behind Steven, to attack Zircon, "No!" Steven rose his hands up, materializing one of his pink, bubble shields to contain both him and Zircon inside of it. "Steven, why are you defending that monster?!" Lapis screamed out.

"Because Zircon is my friend!" Steven yelled back. "I know everything that his mother did back in the war, even what she did to my mother, and I still consider him a friend of mine!"

"You know everything?...Are you sure about that Steven?..." Lapis's stare grew colder and her eyes squinted more out of hate.

"Y-Yes?" Steven answered back hesitantly.

"So…" Lapis pointed over at Zircon, "You know that his mother was the one who put ME IN THE MIRROR?!"


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"Wait…what did you say?" What Lapis said made Steven flinch, ruining his concentration on keeping the bubble up. Lapis thrusted one of her water streams, moving Steven to do the side, "You're mine now Bloodstone!" Now all of her water streams shot out towards Zircon. Reacting, he placed his hand on the ground and summoned a giant skull to block the torrents that were already starting to crack it. "D-Damn!...What kinda power does this Gem have?"

"More than you!" She pushed her hands forward, forcing the water torrents straight through Zircon's summoned skull, knocking him away, "Gah!" He landed a couple feet away on his back, clenching his teeth from the amount of pain he was in. Lapis stood right over him and placed her hand out, making water spear form right above her, pointing at Zircon, "Now I will finally avenge the pain and grief I felt since that day…" When she raised her hand up, Zircon placed his hand on the ground and summoned a massive, skeletal hand from underneath Lapis, gripping her in a binding hold. The water spear deformed and splashed onto the ground.

"Zircon!" Steven ran over to Zircon who was having a hard time standing up from being blown away. "Are you ok?!"

"Don't worry, I've taken worse…" He groaned out. "Now…maybe you should try and get your friend here to calm down…" Lapis was thrashing her head about, unable to move her body from the grip that Zircon's skeleton hand had on her. "Yeah, I'd like to know too! Lapis, why did you attack Zircon? He's my friend!"

"You won't understand Steven!" Lapis snapped. "That fiend's monster of a mother ruined my life! I can't let him get away with that when he's bearing HER Gem!"

"But he's a Crystal Gem now!"

"What?" Lapis shut her mouth, speechless, "You mean Garnet and them trust him?...Even though they knew what his mother did to them as well?! If there is one thing I know for sure I share in common with them, it is our mutual hatred for Bloodstone!"

"Yes! Bloodstone!" Steven annunciated.

"What does that mean Steven?"

"You guys hate BLOODSTONE! This is ZIRCON!" Steven glared up at Lapis, making her angered expression turn to a sad one, "St-Steven, don't look at me like that! You don't know what Bloodstones are capable of! I'm sure you know by now that their main existence is for violence!"

"So I'm guessing he was trying to fool me by saving my life?" Lapis now looked back and forth between Steven and Zircon, "He what?"

"Yeah, he saved my life. Not at all what someone who lives for violence would do huh?" Steven stood his ground, crossing his arms. Lapis was just baffled. "Now, are you gonna calm down?...Because I don't want you hurting my friend Lapis…and I don't want him hurting you either." Steven looked over Zircon. Getting what Steven wants, Zircon released his skeleton hand's grip, releasing Lapis as it disappeared back into the ground. Zircon walked over and held his hand out to Lapis who immediately swat it away, "Don't touch me…" She stood up, the two now glaring at each other. "Those Crystal Gems may turn over easily when it comes to trusting someone, but not me…Know this right now that that boy right there," She pointed at Steven, "Is the only reason why I haven't crushed your Gem yet…" After that, Lapis walked on back inside the barn. Peridot just looked at the barn's entrance and Zircon back and forth, laughing nervously, "Well um…that was fun right?"

"…I'll be by Reaper when you're ready to go Steven…" Zircon turned and walked away, acting like he was when they first met. Steven held onto his hair with both of his hands, "Oooooh this wasn't supposed to go like this!" He yelled.

"Steven, how were you supposed to know that Zircon's mother imprisoned one of your friends in a mirror for generations on end?" Peridot bluntly said. Steven looked up at the barn entrance, "Peridot, stay with Zircon." Her eyes brightened up, hearing Steven say that, "You got it!"

Steven slowly walked into the barn, "Lapis?..." Silence…it was all that could be heard for a brief moment.

"Up here…" Lapis's voice came from up on the second floor, with Steven beginning to climb up the ladder to it. He saw Lapis sitting over near the wall, holding her knees up with her arms. Sitting down next to her, Steven looked down and broke the silence, "Would you like to talk?..." Lapis stayed quiet.

"He's…not that bad. Zircon is really nice when he's not trying to keep his pride."

"It's not that Steven…" She finally spoke. "What Bloodstone did, him being connected to it or not,…it scarred me so much, that all I can see when I look at him is her face." Her hands clenched up, resting on her knees. "Back during the war between the Homeworld Earth Colony and the Crystal Gem Rebels, I actually worked under Bloodstone…"

"Really?" She held her index finger up to tell Steven to wait until she finishes.

"It wasn't a mutual benefit. I was forced to work for her in fear of not wanting my gem shattered. I used my water to give Bloodstone visions of what the Rebellion would do, however, it was not as accurate as say Garnet's Future Vision, for I could not anticipate the ambush that Rose and her troops launched on Bloodstone's camp…the moment where I was knocked back into my gem form. I don't know who it was, but I know it was bloodstone that placed me in that mirror, using my visions to keep her in the loop on the Crystal Gems…like a tool…" All Steven could do was look at her, remembering how she felt about being used. "Now you understand why I don't trust him…and why you shouldn't either."

"I understand," Steven started, "But it doesn't waver my trust in him one bit." Lapis chuckled lightly, resting her head on her arms, "I don't wanna be the one to say I told you so when he does something…Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow…but he will do something one day, mark my words Steven." After a moment of silence, Lapis stood up, "Come on…I think you're keeping him waiting long enough.

Lapis was able to walk down with Steven where Zircon and Peridot were at, where Peridot was talking Zircon's ear off. "Steven…" Zircon called out, seeing that Lapis was with him. Zircon approached the two, his and Lapis's gaze not wavering from each other the entire time. Lapis walked forward and held her hand out to Zircon, "It was nice to meet you Zircon…" Zircon raised an eyebrow in wariness before hesitantly taking her hand in his and shaking it, "Likewise…" Their conversation was devoided of any emotion or care for each other, but what they said was enough to make Steven calm, "Alright! Let's get going!" Steven ran on over to hop on Zircon's motorcycle. Zircon was about to follow after, but Lapis didn't let go of his hand, actually pulling him in slightly and whispered to him, "I'm not gonna try and kill you, but this doesn't mean we are friends…if you do one thing to hurt that boy, nothing will save you from me…do you understand?" Zircon's glare soon matched up with Lapis's glare, "Crystal…" He responded yanking his hand out of Lapis's and walking on back to his motorcycle…

On the road, Zircon wasn't saying a word to Steven, making him worry, "Zircon?...Are you gonna be okay?" Steven couldn't even see if Zircon was looking at him or not through the visor of his motorcycle helmet. "Steven…I just need you to know right now, you're a good boy."

"Huh?...I'm so confused."

"The way how you bring people together…the way how you can have people see the good in everyone…sometimes…it won't work for everyone," Steven looked to the side with furrowed eyebrows, showing an expression of guilt, "I'm sorry…" Steven spoke.

"I should be the one apologizing, nut-head…" Zircon gave out a brief chuckle. "I'm sorry for who I was born from…"

"But you couldn't control that." Steven held Zircon's shoulders.

"I really wish I could though…for who my mother is seems to make up most of my identity…" Steven then wrapped his arms around Zircon, hugging him, "Well, I think you're great just as yourself Zircon…and that's all you should care about."

"Tch…" Zircon smiled, "Thanks nut-head." They both laughed, the sound of Reaper revving on down the highway towards Beach City.


	11. Mini-Chapter 1

Mini Chapter 1

The Classroom Gems!

"Oh come on! You look great!" Pearl's voice could be heard from the side, followed by Zircon's more aggressive tone, "Great?! I look like a humanized doll!"

"Oh get out there!" Pearl pushed Zircon out in front of the blackboard. He wasn't wearing his usual attire, instead he was wearing a navy blue and aqua blue striped shirt, navy blue pants, and a red bowtie. An angry swirl was circling above his head as he was groaning, but he finally sucked it up and decided to get this over with.

"Alright nut-heads listen up. The name is Zircon and I'm going to be teaching you lot about…" A sign dropped down behind Zircon, "Gem Powers!" What Zircon said was also in big letters on the sign that dropped. "Now some Gem Powers are basic things that almost every Gem possesses. One such power is the power to shapeshift, allowing Pearl and the others to look the way they are now. However, some Gems have specific abilities that only concern to their own personal Gem. Take me for instance." Zircon raised his hand up with his fingers curled upwards. Green aura emanated from it as a giant, skeletal hand appeared behind him. "My specific ability is the ability of Necromancy. Pearl can be able to create Holograms of herself. Amethyst can use her hair to roll up into a spike ball. Finally, Garnet, being a fusion, has both of the abilities of her individual Gems, Ruby's strength and Sapphire's Future Vision."

"Oh! Oh! I have a question!" Steven was sitting in a school desk, raising his hand.

"Yes Steven?..." Zircon's eyes narrowed, not exactly thinking this was going to be good.

"If every Gem has the power to shapeshift, why don't you change the way you look, Zircon?" Steven smiled, thinking he asked good, but the smile quickly went away as he rolled out of the desk, dodging a tackle by Zircon, "You little, nut-headed brat! What's wrong with my looks?!"

"A-Aaaaaah!" Zircon was chasing after Steven in the background, the camera switching over to Pearl, "Ehehe, sorry about that folks, he's new…" A loud crash came from the side, making her jump, "Boys! Don't break anything now!" Looking back to the camera, she smiled nervously, "Well, that is all for the day. Hope to see you all next time."

"Pearl! A chair!" Pearl looked back as she barely dodged a chair that broke the camera, making the screen go black.


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"Yes! I got it!" Zircon ran into the Crystal Sanctum, holding up what seemed to be some kind of DVD box. "Zircon? What's going on?" Steven leaned over the railings from the second floor in his bedroom.

"Come on down and see!" Zircon had a big smile on his face going back to look at what he was holding. Steven ran on down the stairs and looked around Zircon's arm, seeing the DVD box. In big letters it said "Inuyasha: The Final Box Set". "Huh?" Steven tilted his head in confusion, looking at the title that was unknown to him, "What is it?" Zircon looked back at Steven, shocked, "It's Inuyasha, an anime."

"What's an anime?" Steven's response made Zircon's eyes go white, "You don't know what anime is?!" Steven shook his head followed up with Zircon taking Steven over to the couch and sitting down with him, "Anime is like…one of the most well-known forms of animated entertainment."

"Soooo, it's like a cartoon?"

"Eeeeh almost…The term "Anime" is what people over here in America call Japanese Animations due to how unique and different the style of animation is from what you would see in Western cartoons. Do you understand?" Zircon looked at Steven who slowly nodded his head before the nodding turned into shaking. Zircon slammed his face into his palm, "Hold on, I'll be right back!" He ran over to the door before quickly looking back, "What kind of movie genres do you like?" It was too easy for Steven to answer, "I like Samurai movies!" This just made Zircon smile, "I got just the perfect thing to show you." He then slipped out the door to get what he wanted.

Returning after a couple minutes, Zircon held another DVD box in his hand, this time the title said "Samurai Champloo: Full Season". "Whoa! This anime stuff has samurai things too?" Steven held the box as he looked down at it with an excited face. "But um…we don't have a DVD player." He looked up a little disappointed. Zircon then started to think, "Do you know someone who possibly could have one?" Steven started to think too before his expression brightened up, "Peridot!"

"Peridot?" Zircon scratched his head.

"Yeah! Her and Lapis have all sorts of things in the barn with them. They're bound to have a DVD player."

"Well what are we waiting for?!" Zircon and Steven both bolted out the door towards where Reaper was kept.

It didn't take long for Zircon to take them to the barn, almost speeding most of the way there. As soon as he stopped his bike, he carried Steven onto his back and ran on up to the barn, "Whoa, you're really anxious for this Zircon!"

"Are you kidding? Anime was one of my biggest influences during my life, what with not having a father or mother around. It taught me certain lessons about life and was what inspired me to train myself to be the best I can, just like some of my favorite characters. That's how amazing anime is to me. They create these characters that people can relate to."

"Wow…" Steven's eyes had stars in them, never hearing Zircon ever talk about something so passionately before. Once they were in the barn, Zircon yelled up, "Oi! Peridot!" Soon after, Peridot's head poked out from the second floor balcony, "Oh! Bloodstone!" Zircon pinched the bridge of his nose, "Peridot, I told you, it's Zircon."

"Haha right!" She jumped down, landing in front of the two, "So what can I do to help?"

"You wouldn't happen to have a DVD player now would you?" Zircon leaned over so he could actually look at Peridot. She stood there, holding her chin in thought. "Hmmmm…hold on for a sec." Walking over to the side, Peridot started rummaging through things she collected and fixed. Getting out, she held up a tiny, mechanical box, "Is this what you're looking for?"

"Yes! That's it! Man you're a lifesaver Peridot!" Zircon complimented, making Peridot's cheeks blush green, "U-U-Um, no problem Bloodstone." Zircon shook his head smiling at what she called him, "For this I'll let it slide."

Zircon immediately went to work on plugging up the DVD Player and starting up the show's main menu. "So what exactly is this that you guys are watching?" Peridot asked, standing behind Zircon.

"We're watching an Animu!" Steven shouted out, making Zircon's eyes roll, "That's AnimE, nut-head."

"Hmmm, intriguing. You know what, I got time to spare. Scoot on over Steven!" Peridot sat right in the middle of the makeshift couch her and Lapis made from car seats. "Alright you two," Zircon turned around holding the remote, "Are you guys ready for some cool, samurai, anime action?"

"YEAH!" Peridot and Steven yelled out.

"Then let the binge watching commence!" Zircon started up the show, plopping himself down beside Peridot.

They watched the anime up until it started to get dark outside, the only light at the moment coming from the screen of the TV. It was the ending of the final episode when the main female character in the show said, "You know, I have something to confess to you two." The other two main males in the show turned to female while Steven and Peridot were munching on some popcorn. "When I tossed the coin back at the restaurant, it didn't land on heads for me."

"WHAT?!" Steven and Peridot lunged forward with some of the popcorn falling over. The female lead then smiled and walked off with the two main males smiling after her. After that, the show's credits came up with Peridot and Steven cheering out, "Oh my god! That was amazing!" Peridot yelled.

"That ending was probably even better than Lonely Blade! Sure there were no fancy moves, but the choreography and animation were amazing in the fight scenes!" Zircon was laughing at how happy the two, "I told you, you guys would like it."

"Not only that, but the samurai, Mugen, was really good looking~!" Peridot squealed with a huge smile.

"I like Jin! He was the classic, calm-headed samurai~!" Steven commented. "What about you Zircon?"

"Hehe, I liked both of them. They were really good foils to each other." Zircon smiled.

"Are you guys still up?" Lapis walked over, but her eyes narrowed when she saw Zircon, "Oh…it's you." Zircon looked at her with the same expression before Steven jumped up at Lapis, "Lapis you just missed probably one of the coolest shows we've ever watched!" Lapis was smiling seeing Steven so happy, "Oh really? Well I guess I should watch it with you then at some point."

"Heh, alright Steven, it's time for us to get going. Don't wanna have Pearl start worrying." Zircon stood up.

"Ok! See ya Lapis! See ya Peridot!" Steven hugged Lapis and Peridot before he began to walk back outside with Zircon. "Hey, Zircon?" He looked down to see what Steven wanted, "What is it?"

"That was really fun."

"Hehe told ya you would like it."

"Well, not just that." Steven added, making Zircon look at him in confusion, "What else was there?" Steven went silent for a brief moment before answering, "We bonded…" Zircon's eyes widened slightly before looking away and rubbing the back of his head, "Y-Yeah. I guess we did."

"You and I have been so different with interests, ever since you came here, that we were never able to have a bonding experience like this." Zircon smiled, listening to Steven, "So I'm guessing you like anime." He was shocked to soon feel Steven hugging him, "Yes I do, but I also like it because it's helping us grow closer." A small smile crept across Zircon's face as he helped Steven up onto his back, "Whoa~! Hahaha~!" Steven laughed.

"C'mon you nut-head, let's hurry on back." Zircon laughed along, running over towards Reaper with Steven.


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"Steven, watch out for its teeth!" Steven and Zircon were on an extermination mission with Pearl and Garnet, fighting against a Crocodile-inspired, Corrupted Gem in a swampy area. The Gem snapped at Steven who quickly placed up a bubble to defend himself. When the Corrupted Gem's teeth made contact with Steven's bubble, it lifted the bubble up in the air and started thrashing Steven around, "Aaaaaah! Zircon, Garnet, someone heeeeelp~!"

"Don't worry Steven! I'm comi-" Zircon leaped up to strike at the Corrupted Gem, but was quickly knocked away by its tail.

"Zircon!" Pearl ran over to see if Zircon was alright. Zircon's attack though kept the Corrupted Gem's attention for Garnet to grab it from the side, suplexing it to the ground. The impact from the suplex made the Corrupted Gem spit Steven out.

"You ok?" Pearl helped Zircon up as he smirked, "Hey, it takes more than that to take me down." Just when he finished talking, Steven, from getting spat out, crashed right into Zircon, "GAH!"

"Oh dear…" A sweat bead hung over Pearl's head from seeing Zircon and Steven on the ground.

"Pearl! I need your help!" Garnet yelled out for Pearl to look back over to see her holding the Corrupted Gem's top teeth line and bottom teeth line from chomping her body in half. Pearl jumped up and slammed the tip of her spear right on top of the Corrupted Gem's head, making it poof back into its basic state. "Whew, another mission completed." Pearl handed the Corrupted Gem to Garnet as she bubbled it back to the Crystal Sanctum.

"Zircon!" Steven's sudden yell made Garnet and Pearl run back to them in worry.

"Steven, what's wrong?!" Garnet looked over the two to see Steven almost in tears, "I-I didn't mean to! It was an accident!" Zircon looked like he was ill when he was leaning up against the tree. That said tree was cracked and bent, possibly from when Steven crashed into Zircon. Thinking of the worst, Garnet flipped Zircon over, taking his jacket off and lifting up his hoodie. "Just as I thought…" Garnet said in a low tone. Zircon's Gem was cracked. "We gotta get him back to the Crystal Sanctum where it's safe." Garnet continued, picking up Zircon in the process.

Once they teleported back to the Crystal Sanctum, Garnet placed Zircon down on the couch, backside up. "Steven, you know what to do." Garnet nodded at Steven, who walked over and licked his own hand, "Healing spit power!" Steven slapped his saliva covered hand on Zircon's gem when a pink gleam followed up afterwards, mending Zircon's gem to its original state. Zircon quickly jolted up and shivered with a look of comedic disgust, "Uaahahahaaa…Wh-Why do I feel like I just got saliva wiped on me?"

"It's because I saved you Zircon?!" Steven was happy to see his friend back in good shape, especially since he felt he redeemed himself after causing it.

"You did? Uuuugh my head…" Zircon held his head in a bit of after-pain, "What happened Steven? I remember getting up after the Corrupted Gem knocked me into a tree, but then it just went black."

"Steven crashed into you and your Gem was almost cracked." Garnet blurted out.

"Garnet!" Steven yelled back in shocked response.

"What? Shouldn't he know the truth?"

"Wha…my gem?" Zircon looked over his shoulder, trying to look at his Gem, "Well um…thanks for helping me Steven, I appreciate that." He smiled, making Pearl sigh out in relief, "Alright Garnet, let's go and check on our new friend back in the bubble chamber." She inquired with her and Garnet walking over to the magical door and entering it.

Steven and Zircon were now alone in the living room as it got quiet. "Zircon…I-I'm really sorry about-" Steven started before Zircon interrupted him, "Steven, I want you to do a favor for me."

"Huh? What is it?" Steven leaned over at Zircon, curiously.

"I need you to pull on my gem slightly and check something."

"What?! P-Pull out your Gem slightly?!" Zircon quickly covered Steven's mouth, "What did I say again about you just blurting things out?" Both of Zircon's eyebrows arched up.

"Sorry Zircon." Steven mumbled through Zircon's hand.

"Now just do it for me please?" Zircon turned around, crisscrossed for Steven to lift Zircon's shirt up. Steven placed his hand on Zircon's gem and started to lightly pull on it.

"GYAAAAAH!" Zircon screamed out in pain.

"Ah! I'm sorry!" Steven quickly stopped.

"Gh…d-don't worry. This is nothing…" Zircon panted, "Keep going." Steven was extremely worried, but he did what Zircon asked and continued to pull more on Zircon's Gem, trying to ignore Zircon's screams.

"Aaaaaah! St-Steven, do you see a missing area in my Gem?!" He yelled out, trying his best to endure the pain. Steven examined to see, on the lower left side of Zircon's Gem, there was a fragment missing from it, "Zircon…" Steven's eyes widened.

"P-Push it back in! Push it back in!" Steven quickly pushed Zircon's Gem back into place while Zircon was breathing heavily now that the pain was gone. "Darn…s-so it's still there even when you healed it…"

"Zircon, wh-why is there a piece missing fragment from your Gem?" Steven leaned back, trying to give Zircon some space. Zircon's expression turned rather sad almost on the border of depressed looking, "I don't know…but that fragment is the reason the memories from my mother are all blurry and…" He stopped to look at his own skin, hoping Steven would understand without him needing to say anything.

"Oh…" Steven looked in complete understanding of the situation. "So is that why you decided to look for those Gem fragments? Like the one you and Garnet found?" Zircon nodded in response to Steven's question.

"Not only do I want these Gem fragments to rest in peace, but I also want to find my Gem fragment…my mother's Gem fragment."

"How long do you think that will take to find it?" Steven asked.

"Weeks…months…years even? I don't know Steven, but I know that as long as I don't have that fragment, I won't be normal like everyone else."

"What do you mean? You're already normal Zircon~!" Steven smiled, making Zircon smile lightly, "Thanks little buddy…" Zircon rubbed Steven's head, trailing the hair through his fingers.

"Zircon, there's something I've been meaning to ask?" Steven sat forward, looking down.

"Huh? What is it?" Zircon looked over, curious as to why Steven couldn't looked at him.

"Do you ever feel like you wanted to meet your mother?" Steven looked up, having the same, sad expression on his face that Zircon had earlier.

"Well um," Zircon held his chin in deep thought, "I mean, of course. Wouldn't every child like to see their parent for once?" Steven sighed out to Zircon's response, "I guess that was a stupid question huh?"

"But…" Zircon continued, making Steven look back up. "The better question is, would me and her have gotten along?"

"What do you mean?" Steven now turned his whole body over to Zircon.

"Well, exactly what I mean Steven. My mother was a bloodthirsty warrior who hated the Crystal Gems with a passion. I mean look at me now. I'm with the Crystal Gems. I actually have a family that cares for and loves me. You guys were able to give me something that my mother was unable to give for obvious reason, but you also did more than my father would've ever done for me…" Zircon looked down at his hands which were fiddling with each other a lot.

"Oh yeah, you never mentioned about your father before, haven't you?" Steven chimed, "What was he like?" Zircon looked back up again to stare over at the opposite side of the room and into the kitchen, "He was…not ready to be a father, if I had to say it in the nicest way…" Steven tilted his head at Zircon, "How?"

"My father loved my mother…that I definitely knew about. He loved her so much that he would've rather not have me just for her to live. However, when he found out about a Gem having to give up her life force for a child, it was too late. Mother was already pregnant with me. After I was born and mother disappeared, father started to drink…a lot. He thought the booze would help him forget about my mother. It did, but it also made him forget about me too…It was like he didn't even think of me as his own son…he didn't…" Zircon clenched his fingers together, "He didn't even do anything when the townspeople drove me out for what I was…"

"Stop." Steven said, holding onto Zircon's shoulder, "Stop there, I-I didn't mean to bring such bad memories up." Zircon lightly placed his hand on top of Steven's head, "Heh, its ok nut-head. The thing about the past is that it contains unchangeable history. The beauty of the future though," He eyed over at Steven with a smile, "Is that you can make sure not to make the same mistake twice." Steven smiled and hugged Zircon tightly. "Hehe ok ok, mushy times over. Come on, let's go and get you some of those bits, Steven."

"Yay!" Steven held onto Zircon's hand as the two walked on out the door.


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"Steven?" Lapis opened up the Crystal Sanctum's front door slightly and looked around the corner of it. She narrowed her eyes in annoyance seeing a certain someone sitting on the living area's couch, "Yo, what's up Lapis?" Zircon waved at Lapis as she groaned, avoiding eye contact with him. Lapis walked in and started calling out again, "Steveeeen!"

"You're wasting ya breathe sea girl. Steven went out on a mission with Garnet and them. Not sure when they're gonna be back." Zircon explained.

"Why on Earth should I believe that?"

"What the- Why would I lie about that?" Zircon held his hand on his chest, offended.

"It's in Bloodstones' nature to deceive and conquer." Lapis scorned while walking upstairs, "Steveeeen!" Zircon's mouth lightly gaped and his eyes narrowed like Lapis's in just complete dumbfoundness. "It's in Bloodstone's nature to deceive and conquer." He mimicked her voice going back to reading the book he had.

"Ok…so he's not here." Lapis walked on back down feeling even more annoyed that Zircon was right.

"Told ya." Zircon smirked without looking away from his book.

"Well if they're out on a mission, then why aren't you with them?" Lapis questioned, looking over Zircon on the couch.

"Weeeell, I've been selected on a majority vote to stay here after an incident happened yesterday concerning me and my Gem." Zircon explained.

"And?"

"My Gem almost cracked." He sighed out followed by Lapis laughing her ass off and holding onto the stair railing. She stopped quickly, clearing her throat and said, "Oh…darn. Sorry to hear that." She gave sarcastic sympathy. If it wasn't directed towards Zircon, he could've given her a lot of respect for that, "Yeah, yeah har, har, so funny." Zircon growled, "Why exactly are you looking for Steven anyway? Isn't Peridot still at the barn?"

"Yes, but she's been watching some of those anime shows nonstop." Lapis then poked Zircon's forehead, "Yet another thing you seemed to have caused that affected me negatively." Lapis began to walk away, but Zircon jumped up to his feet and stomped over to Lapis, "Ok now I understand completely what my mother has done to you, but what on Earth have I done to warrant such disgusting behavior towards me?!" He lashed out. Lapis turned on her heel and pressed one of her fingers against Zircon's chest, "Don't you even dare give me that tone of voice after all your mother did! You wanna know WHY I hate you so much! You have HER Gem! You have HER abilities! You have HER-" She looked into Zircon's eyes, making her own widen, "Y-You have her eyes…" She let out in a more calm tone. Hearing what she just said, Lapis sped walked out of the house, leaving behind a shocked and confused Zircon.

"Was that just a…compliment?" Zircon analyzed.

He ran out onto the Crystal Sanctum's front deck to see Lapis out on the beach, sitting down and letting her feet soak within the tide. Zircon walked on down, but knowing that he had to keep his distance from someone so hostile towards him he stood to the side of her, five feet away. "So you used to work for my mother…" Zircon recalled. Lapis didn't respond, looking down at the wet sand that was left behind by the ocean water as it retreated back into the sea. This only made things more awkward for Zircon as he had to carry on the conversation just by himself, "So um…a psychic huh?"

"Not exactly what you'd think…" She said immediately, "I only used my water to show people what I have already seen…I wasn't a psychic, I was a spy. I went to see what Bloodstone's enemies were doing and I sent back my water to show her. However, that was enough for me to gain Bloodstone's trust…"

"I can't believe my mother was really that terrible to you." Zircon crossed his arms, looking down as well, spotting an aqua-blue seashell.

"…No…" Lapis mumbled.

"E-Excuse me?" Zircon looked over, leaning towards her to see if he heard right.

"No…she wasn't all that terrible to me." Lapis was only making Zircon more and more surprised. "Bloodstone may have been vicious and ravenous by her strategies and battle prowess, but…off the battlefield, she was as kind and gentle as a passing breeze. And to be perfectly honest…I didn't know what to think of it at first." Seeing her actually say nice things about his mother made Zircon more comfortable to be near as he scooted to three feet away from her. "In fact…she was so kind to her soldiers and even me that…I even considered her as a close friend. What's more…she even responded saying that I was considered a close friend to her as well…"

"Seriously?..." Zircon thought back to the fragment he found in that arctic cave. The soldier who Bloodstone looked down on had this feeling of sadness and regret. Regret for what though, Zircon thought. Regret that he wasn't able to repay her kindness? Zircon continued thinking. His mother did look extremely guilty and distraught when she was holding that soldier in her arms. Could she have really been someone who was actually…benevolent?

"But…" Lapis gripped onto her legs, clenching her teeth, "Even after she said all of that to me…" She glared up, looking out at the ocean horizon, "She still locked me up in that mirror!" Lapis picked up a shell and threw it out into the sea, pretty far. Zircon stepped back, not wanting to get in the crosshairs of her little anger tantrum. "When she did that, I now believed that all she ever thought of me was a tool for her own selfish agendas in bringing down the Crystal Gems! It was all a devious façade to inspire confidence in her soldiers and make them want to die for her! Her perfect, little ARMY! And what's even worse…" Zircon looked over to actually see Lapis crying, "I also felt betrayed…because I actually considered her as a friend…my first one…" She looked over at Zircon, glaring through her tears, "And the fact that you remind me so much of her reminds me of the pain she caused me…making me hate you as well…Now you know why I despise you so much Zircon…" Lapis turned on her heel and materialized her water wings, flying away up into the sky.

Ashamed for his mother, Zircon slowly walked on back up to the Crystal Sanctum only to see that Steven and them have just returned from their mission. "Zircon we're back~!" Steven ran over to Zircon only to see him with that sad look, "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Steven…how did you meet Lapis?" Zircon asked. Steven was rather surprised that Zircon asked such a question, but he responded anyway, "Well, Pearl and them had the mirror when they found it during the war and I sort of discovered it myself. When I found out that there was a Gem in it, I released it. Although when Lapis first came back, she wasn't exactly all that happy."

"Well, what happened?" Zircon inquired.

"Sheeee, sort of took our entire ocean."

"Th-The entire ocean?!" Steven nodded to Zircon's shock. "And then what?" Zircon asked.

"Well, when I confronted her, all she just wanted to do was go back home. So I healed her just so she could do that. But then Jasper and Peridot came once they found her and then one thing led to another-"

"Eheh it's fine Steven. You don't have to go into the whole backstory. I got what I wanted to know."

"Hm?" Steven looked up at Zircon.

"I was always wondering why she was so nice to you…the reason is it's because you're the first person who made her feel like she wasn't a tool."

"Zircon, What happened while we were gone?"

"Well…I learned how I can start redeeming myself to Lapis for what my mother did to her."


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

"I'm sorry, you want me to do what?" Zircon looked down at Amethyst as she was panicking right now, "Um, well, let's just say that me and Steven are the holders of the BCUW Tag Belts…"

Zircon stared at her for a second, "Ok, I have noooo idea what you just said."

"Oh, BCUW stands for Beach City Underground Wrestling." Amethyst explained with a huge grin. Zircon only looked at her with his uninterested look, trying to take in all of this, "….Uh-huh." He responded. "And you and Steven hold the…Tag Team Belt?"

"Yeah! But you see, the thing is, tonight is the night we have to defend our title and Steven is gonna be over at Connie's house for a sleepover, so I don't have a partner!" Amethyst was now back in panicking mode once she remembered what she was worried about in the first place, "So please Zircon, you're the only one who I can trust here to be my new partner!"

"Seriously?..." Zircon looked at her as if he was gonna snap at her, but then his eyes turned into stars, "I'd love to…"

"What?! That's kinda shocking even from you." Amethyst leaned back a little.

"Are you kidding me? While I was on the road, watching wrestling matches was one of my favorite hobbies second to Anime. If you ask me to actually BE in a Wrestling match, defending a Belt Title none the less, you better bet your hide I'm gonna say yes." Amethyst wrapped her around the enthusiastic Zircon, "Zircon our friendship is just growing by the day! Ok, first we need to make your costume. Got any ideas?"

"I thought you'd never ask." Zircon stepped back from Amethyst and summoned forth some hollowed out bones and a skull to form skeletal, armor links all around his body. Amethyst's eyes gleamed, "That looks so COOL!" She blurted out, "Now, we have to think of a name. Usually with tag teams, their names are very similar to one another."

"Well, what's yours?" Zircon asked, placing a hand on his hip.

"Heh, you're looking at the infamous Purple Puma!" Amethyst pointed her thumb at her chest with great pride.

"Hmmmm, how about," Zircon took up a very devious looking pose with one of his hands held out and his fingers curled up some, "Skele-Hound, the Canine of the Underworld." Amethyst made a fangirl shriek, "Zircon this is so amazing, thank you so much!" She tightly hugged Zircon, but quickly jumped back, "Ow ow ow, the bone armor is not meant for hugging."

Outside, Amethyst was able to make a makeshift, wrestling ring for her and Zircon to train on, "Alright, I'm gonna be teaching you the basics of Wrestling so be on your guard while we spar." Amethyst used her shapeshifting abilities to transform into her buff, leotard wearing counterpart, Purple Puma. "Let's begin!" She hit her fists together as Zircon raised up a finger, "W-Wait, maybe we should do this step by ste-" Before he found out what was going on, Amethyst was holding Zircon, upside down in the air, by his head. "First off, this is called a," Amethyst stopped and then fell backwards, bringing Zircon down with her, "A suplex!" Amethyst slammed Zircon down onto the mat, making a loud bang sound, "Gah!" Zircon yelped out with widened, white eyes.

"Now usually after this, you can follow up." Amethyst wrapped her legs around Zircon's arm and pulled back on his wrist with her hands, "Into an Arm Bar!"

"Atatatatata!" Zircon continued yelping as he felt a lot of pain.

Amethyst's training went on until the sun started going down and she got up, wiping her brow, "Whew, now that's what I call tough training. So, did you feel like you learn anything Zircon? Eh…" When Amethyst looked down, she saw Zircon, looking up with narrowed eyes and bruised up all over. "Well…I learned two things…" Zircon started. "One, we didn't come up with our signature, tag move…"

"And the other?" Amethyst rubbed the back of her head with a nervous smile on her face.

"…This bone armor doesn't cushion falls…" Zircon smirked as Amethyst began to laugh, "Hahaha, but did you learn anything from those beatings?" In response, Zircon swept Amethyst's legs, with one of his own, making her fall. He proceed to follow up with putting one of her legs in an Upward Leg Lock. "Ow ow ow ow ow ow!" Now Amethyst was yelping like Zircon earlier as he just smiled, "Yeah. You could say I did."

Night time soon came as everyone who was going to be watching the BCUW was already seated in the crowd while Zircon and Amethyst were waiting in the background. "So, how exactly is this gonna work?" Zircon asked.

"Well tonight's tag bout is going to be a little interesting. We'll be taking on two other tag teams in a Triple Threat, Ladder Match." Amethyst explained, being in her Purple Puma form.

"Heh, try saying that three times fast." Zircon joked right before the announcer came on.

"Alright folks! Tonight is the night you've all been waiting for!" The announcer started. "It is time for the BCUW's TAG…TEAM…BOOOOOOUT!" Everyone started to cheer going nuts over this event. "Now! Before we begin tonight's match, let's see our Tag Team Champioooooons!" The cheers were coming in non-stop as well with some booing for those who know who the Champions already are. "First up, you love her! You hate her! You just can't get enough of her! Welcome out Purpllllllle Pumaaaaaaa!" When the announcer called out her name, Amethyst full sprinted and jumped into the ring, landing in the middle with a loud thud, followed up with her raising up her hands and roaring out a loud yell. The fans were losing it as cheers and boos were coming in from all around the ring. "And hold on, seems like Tiger Millionaire won't be making an appearance in tonight's bout." Almost everyone gave out a disappointed moan hearing this, Zircon immediately figuring out that that must've been Steven's wrestling persona. "Instead, subbing for Tiger Millionaire, is the Canine straight out of the Underworld, Skeleeeeeee-Hooooound!" Zircon backward summersaulted all the way over to where he was just near the ring before doing a leaping backflip landing inside, right next to Purple Puma. He took up a crouching stance and slowly looked up, his green eyes glowing underneath the eye holes of his skull mask, making people 'oooo' in great interest.

"And now! Let's welcome the competitors! First up is the team that actually lost this title last year! Give it up for the ex-tag team, The Good Looking Gaaaaaang!" Running out and jumping into the ring were these two macho looking guys who both had long, blond hair, one of them also having a blonde mustache. "And our final team entering this Triple Threat is a newcomer team that have brutalized through their fights to make it hear! The right now, undefeated, tag team, the Metal Cruncheeeeers!" These guys were actually slowly walking out and into the ring. They had on this biker looking attire and one of them actually had a metal mask on over his face. Zircon gulped slightly, "These guys might be tough…"

"Relax Zircon. Just go for the belt if you think you can do it." Amethyst stated.

"Hmph, nice strategy oh fearless leader." Zircon joked before the bell rang and immediately, Metal Mask from the Metal Munchers lunged out at Zircon, "Holy!" He quickly ducked back and used his feet to push the still lunging Metal Mask out of the ring. When he got up, he already saw Amethyst holding the other Metal Muncher Member and one of the Good Looking Gangs in a dual headlock right before slamming their heads into the ground with a Reverse DDT. "Skele-Hound!" Amethyst called to Zircon, pointing out at the ladder that was set up as the remaining Good Looking Gang member tried to reach out for the Tag Belts. Thinking quickly, Zircon kicked the ladder, making it and the Good Looking Gang member fall over onto the mat, incapacitating him. Taking this chance, Zircon set up the ladder again and began to climb as the Metal Mask from earlier was now climbing up as well. Both Zircon and Metal Mask grabbed the belt at the same time and started to try and pull it out of each other's hands. "Oh my lord, a two way grab! Whoever wins this is going to be the Champions, people!" The announcer commentated.

"Come on Skele-Hound, you got this!" Amethyst called up, smiling the whole time and not noticing what was happening to the side of her. Zircon looked over to see Metal Mask's partner about to hit Amethyst with a chair. Wait, Zircon thought. If he hits Amethyst with that, he's gonna…

Zircon saw that if the chair hit Amethyst, it was gonna hit her right in her Gem. "Look out!" Zircon released the belt, letting Metal Mask take it, as he jumped down and delivered a kick to Metal Mask's partner's head. Amethyst looked over in surprise before the announcer shouted out, "And we have our new champions! The winners are the Metal Munchers!" Cheers were going on while Amethyst and Zircon were having their own little moment. "Wh-Why? You had the belt right there in your hands." Amethyst spoke.

"Amethyst…that guy was going to hit you in your Gem with a chair." Amethyst's eyes widened from what Zircon was saying. "If he would've done it, your Gem might've shattered or…worse…" Zircon held his arms with each hand, shivering at the thought of the worse outcome. "And if I let that happen over a belt…I wouldn't have forgiven myse-" Transforming out of her Purple Puma form, Amethyst hugged Zircon tightly, making his face blush green, "A-Amethyst?" Amethyst pulled back with a soft smile on her face, "Hey man, it's just a belt. Besides, I think my wrestling days are over." She stated, making Zircon smile back and chuckle slightly. Amethyst wrapped an arm around Zircon's neck making him lean over since he was taller, "Come on skele-boy, let's go for some ice cream and head home." Amethyst offered.

"Ice cream…yeah, that sounds nice." Zircon returned an arm wrap around Amethyst's shoulder too as they walked on out.


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

"Holy crud, are you serious Steven?!" Zircon looked at Steven in complete shock, gripping onto Steven's shoulders. Steven held up a poster in front of Zircon's face. On the poster it said "Beach City Anime Convention!". Zircon snatched the poster and looked at it, sometimes even double taking it to see if he wasn't dreaming. "Zircon it's coming by next week! Aren't you excited?!" Steven shouted out.

"Next weekend, Oh god!" Zircon looked as if he was in a panic state now. "W-We need costumes, stuff to get signed, spending money for merch," Zircon was listing off things one after another. "We got money." Steven reassured him, "And we can definitely bring a bunch of your DVDs to sign!"

"But all of that leaves is the costumes and I have no idea where to get those." Zircon stood there thinking while Steven already had the answer, "Zircon, did you forget that we have a walking, jack of trade's artist in the house?" Zircon looked down at Steven before they both said, "Pearl!"

"Pearl! Pearl! Pearl! Pearl!" Steven and Zircon were both running down to the cave garage where Pearl was obviously working at. Entering in, they finally saw what Pearl has been working on for a while now. "Is that…a motorcycle?" Zircon pointed at the mess of a motor bike as Pearl was rubbing her head, "Ooooh this won't do. The motor's all wrong and the design doesn't look good at all." She sighed out, "Plus, I don't know how to even ride a motorcycle." Steven and Zircon both looked at each other while Pearl was mumbling to herself.

"Pearl, what's this all about anyway?" Zircon crossed his arms, looking over at Pearl.

"Oh Zircon, I don't know if you'll understand." Pearl plopped down against the wall.

"Try me." Zircon responded as he sat right in front of her. Pearl groaned before finally giving in, "You see Zircon there's this girl,"

"Oh! The mystery girl?!" Steven shouted out in excitement. Pearl cleared her throat at Steven as he stepped back, "Hehe, sorry…"

"As I was saying," Pearl continued, "There's this girl who I met and she gave me her phone number, but the thing is, she's this cool biker girl and I'm…not." Pearl looked away, blushing a light blue.

"Soooo, you want to make and know how to ride a motorcycle so you can impress her and pretty much make something in common between you two." Zircon tilted his head before smiling, "Why didn't you ask me for Reaper then?" Pearl immediately started hugging Zircon tightly, "Oh Zircon you're a wonderful, little boy!"

"Gah! Ch-Choking not breathing!" Zircon yelled out before being released and gasping for air, "However, I have an ultimatum. I'll teach you how to ride Reaper if you can be able to make me and Steven-"

"Oh Zircon, I think Peridot might want to come along." Steven interrupted.

"….make me, Steven, and Peridot costumes for the upcoming Beach City Anime Convention." Zircon finished after looking at Steven with narrowed eyes for a bit. Pearl held her hand out, "It's a deal Zircon!" She smiled as Zircon shook her hand.

"Now then," Zircon pulled out a pair of black lens sunglasses from his pocket and placed it on Pearl's face, "Let's get the training started.

Far out on the beach, Zircon was sitting on the back part of Reaper, behind Pearl. Pearl gripped onto the motorcycle's handles, sweating slightly from nervousness, "Zircon are you sure I can do this?" Pearl looked back only to see Zircon covered up in a padded up, protection jacket, "Of course I doooo. What makes you think I have any doubt?" He then placed a helmet on both himself and Pearl, "Just in case." Pearl narrowed her eyes at Zircon, knowing there's no faith in her whatsoever. Steven, meanwhile, was watching on a sandy hill, far away from the two. "Ok, Pearl, first thing you gotta do is start the engine." Zircon explained. When Pearl turned the ignition key, the loud motor came on, startling her some, "Oh!" She let out a sigh while Zircon was shaking his head, "You've driven robots, ships, and even our planet's cars. Why is this making you so hesitant?"

"Well don't think I haven't read up on motorcycles, Zircon. Pretty much make one mistake on this vehicle and you could end up severely injured or worse." Pearl snapped due to her nervousness. Zircon lightly patted her shoulder in sympathy before saying, "Let's not have those thoughts while we're actually driving please? For my sake?"

"Fine…" Pearl looked back forward.

"Now, gently rev up the engine and take it slow." Zircon described as Pearl gently turned the right handle forward, making the motorcycle start to move. They began to cruise down the beach as she seemed to have been keeping a calm mind set. "Whoa, nice going Pearl, you're taking this like a champ." Pearl looked back at Zircon to gloat as the motorcycle was starting to go faster, "Well of course. I can't believe how easy this actually is-"

"Rock!" Zircon called out as the front of Reaper hit a lower leg sized rock, launching the two off and forward into the sand. "Ok, next time…keep your eyes on the road." Zircon glared over at her as she lightly smiled.

"Alright, next I'm gonna help you learn how to make a gradual turn on this. This may actually be a bit difficult since people who don't drive motorcycles for a living have a hard time knowing how much to turn the bike." Zircon pointed out over to two cones that were placed in a straight line distanced from each other, "Now, if you turn the handles just enough, you should be able to go between those two cones. However, too little and you miss it. Too much, and we'll both be eating sand again." Pearl nodded in understanding, starting to drive the motorcycle at a casual pace, but when she got to the cones, she turned the handle too much and the two fell over with the motorcycle, "Ah!" Pearl yelped as she fell into the sand with Zircon, "H-Hold on, I can do better!" Pearl brought the motorcycle back without Zircon on it and tried it again, turning too hard and falling off. "Pearl." Zircon called out.

"No, I can do this." Pearl brought it back again only to fall off again at the same point. "Pearl." Zircon called out, slightly louder.

"This time for sure!" She got on, but Zircon yelled out, "PEARL!" He got her attention this time as she looked over. "Pearl, do you really want to know how to ride a motorcycle?" Zircon questioned. Pearl looked to the side and held her arm, "No…B-But I have to."

"Why?" Zircon held his head in one of his held up palms.

"B-Because I want to impress this girl."

"Hmmm. What did you do that impressed her so much for her to give you her number?"

"I-" Pearl stopped for a moment, hesitating, "I was…myself. We just talked and she apparently thought I was cool the way I was."

"Heh," Zircon smiled, "Then that's the person who she wants to see again." Pearl looked at Zircon in surprise. "I mean, yes, meeting a girl who like motorbikes as much as I do would be cool," Zircon continued, "But if that's all she's going for, and she only knows that to impress me, I'm not going to fall for her. Pearl, you have so much more to yourself that you don't need to learn how to ride a motorcycle. Heck, you build more advanced things than those. If you really want her to like you, be you and nothing else." After thinking for a moment, Pearl lightly chopped Zircon's head, laughing, "When did you become the responsible one, Zircon."

"Hah, only when you're not, Pearl." Zircon laughed back.

"Well, a deal's a deal Zircon. I'll get started on those costumes of yours right away. Just tell me what you want." Pearl offered before heading on back to the Crystal Sanctum. Steven walked over from the side and smirked over at Zircon, "You wanted to teach her that from the start, didn't you?"

Zircon rubbed his finger under his nose, smirking, "Heh, maybe…"


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Garnet and Zircon were walking down a long trail filled with floating patches of grasslands while ongoing clouds would pass by, blanketing these floating grasslands in a white mist from time to time. "Garnet, what exactly is this place?..." Zircon looked around as he spotted what seemed to be crumbled up pillars along the path they were following.

"Much like many, old civilizations, they would always worship those who were otherwise seen as sentient." Garnet started to explain. Zircon rolled his eyes, "You mean like how people nowadays think that Aztecs' and Mayans' gods were aliens? Well…then again, that may not be so farfetched given my current residence." He chuckled lightly at how something that would usually seem so implausible to a normal human actually exists. Garnet looked straight on ahead and continued explaining, "There was one ancient civilization that actually worshipped us Gems…"

"For real?" Zircon looked up at Garnet, quite surprised.

"Yes…look over there for proof." Garnet pointed on ahead as they were standing on top of a hill, looking down on the ruins of an ancient city whose stone buildings seemed to be modeled after different kinds of gem cuts. "Whoa…that's actually pretty cool." Zircon admitted before the two started to walk on down. "And you believe that another shard is here?" Zircon questioned.

"Considering this is a city that worshipped our species, I wouldn't be surprised if there was one." Garnet responded.

"Then I guess that building over there may be our best bet of finding it." Zircon pointed over to the back of the city ruins. A massive temple stood tall among the buildings that had what appeared to be artistic paintings of a group of four figures, a pink one, a yellow one, a blue one, and a white one each having a diamond shaped head. "Hmph…don't need to be an archaeologist to know who those four are." Garnet scoffed out.

"Are those…the Diamonds?" Zircon hesitated when speaking.

"You know them?" Garnet eyed at Zircon.

"Well yes and no…I remember seeing them from my mother's memories. Pink Diamond was her Diamond, Yellow Diamond was her military chief, and Blue Diamond was her mentor…but…" Zircon pointed over at the white, figure painting, "That one I have no recollection of."

"White Diamond…" Garnet spoke in a very low tone, almost as if she was frightened to even speak the name. "Out of all of the Diamonds, White Diamond is the strongest. Only a few, rare people could ever be able to meet her in person…" Garnet fixed up her shades, standing completely still for a moment. "Come on Zircon…let's go." Before the two were able to step up to the entrance though, the two statues beside the temple entrance lit up and hit Garnet with a bright beam. "Garnet!" Zircon tried to reach out, but as soon as he did, Garnet was split. Landing on the ground in her place was Ruby and Sapphire, completely shocked at what happened. "Wh-What the?!" Ruby looked at her hands, as Sapphire looked on up at Zircon, "Oh…eheh, um…hello Zircon." Sapphire spoke nervously.

"Hold on…are you guys Ruby and Sapphire, Garnet's individual Gems?" Zircon's eyes widened as he pointed down at the two of them.

"Yep, that's us!" Ruby jumped up, grinning proudly. Zircon then picked Ruby up to look at her, much to Ruby's dismay, "H-Hey!"

"But…how can something so cute form into the badass that Garnet is?" Zircon stated, making Ruby blush a dark color, "Cute?! P-P-Put me down! I'm a warrior dang it! Sapphire, help please?!" Sapphire merely chuckled at the position that Ruby was in. Zircon gently placed her down as he looked at the statues that zapped the two. "What the heck just happened anyway?" He thought out loud. Sapphire walked on over to the statues to inspect them, "Well, when we were hit by it as Garnet, I could feel as if the beams themselves were pulling me and Ruby apart."

"Eh, what does that mean?" Ruby shrugged, quite puzzled.

"It means, no fusions are allowed in this temple." Sapphire looked back at the other two.

"Don't worry. You two just stay close to me. I'll protect ya." Zircon smiled.

"Thanks Zircon. I know you must not be used to not having Garnet watch your back." Sapphire inquired.

"Heh please, consider this my chance to finally pay you guys back for all the times you guys saved me as Garnet." Ruby and Sapphire smiled up at Zircon before all three began to walk inside the temple.

Inside, the temple's halls were dank and filled with all kinds of signs of aging like dust and cobwebs. "Eeeew." Ruby groaned, seeing all of it as they all walked down the path.

"Hmmm, something's not right here…" Zircon muttered out.

"What do you mean?" Sapphire looked up at him through her giant bang.

"I watched a lot of Indiana Jones, so something just doesn't add up." Zircon held his chin. His comment made Ruby and Sapphire sweat slightly, "What the heck is a movie supposed to tell you about anyway?!" Ruby yelled as she continued to walk.

"What I'm saying is we should've at least ran into a booby trap by now." As soon as Zircon said that, a block that Ruby stepped on sunk into the ground slightly, "Um…Zircon?" Ruby slowly turned her head back as she grew slightly pale. From behind them, back down the hall, a wall fell down from the ceiling as spikes grew out from it. "Ah!" Ruby and Sapphire both yelled, clinging to Zircon's legs. Zircon looked ahead only to see that another wall was slowly beginning to move down, trying to trap the three in the room as the spiked wall started to move towards them at a fast pace. "Shoot! Hang on!" Zircon grabbed the two Gems and placed them both on his back starting a mad sprint down to the end of the hallway. Throwing his hand up, pointing his index and middle finger into the air, two skeletal arms pushed up against the wall that was falling down at the end to give them more time. The falling wall was too heavy though since it broke the skeletal arms with no problem. "Ah! Z-Zircon hurry!" Ruby yelled, clinging to Zircon's shoulder tightly with Sapphire.

"Hold on!" Zircon lunged himself forward, holding Ruby and Sapphire to his chest now as he slid underneath the wall to the other side right before it fully shut.

The three lay down against the stone, panting heavily from what just happened feeling as if their hearts were about to jump out of each other's chests. "I-I had faith in you Zircon." Sapphire spoke, smiling, "R-Right Ruby?"

"Yeah…r-right." Ruby said rather hesitantly. Zircon was the first to sit up and when he looked up, he saw that they were in some sort of altar room. Over on the far side, on top of the altar's pedestal, was a shining, red, Gem fragment. Ruby sat and looked at it with a look of awe, "It's a Ruby fragment." Zircon looked back at her for a moment before walking over to the pedestal itself. As soon as he touched the Ruby fragment, he was shocked like last time with an electrical energy.

In Zircon's mind, he was looking through the eyes of someone else. Through these person's eyes, Zircon could see he was walking right next to…

Mom, Zircon thought. "Commander, I don't understand." The Ruby who was with Bloodstone began to speak. She sounded a lot like Garnet's Ruby. "You were trampling these rebels into the dust since the beginning. Why are you suddenly holding back and even trying to convince our Diamond to leave the planet?" Bloodstone stopped in her tracks. She slowly turned to look at the Ruby with a very sad look on her face, "Young Ruby…you've yet to experience the wonders of this planet and it's people…" As Bloodstone spoke, she appeared to have been holding her stomach and looking down at it, "This planet…it can give more than just…resources…"

A white flash seemed to have pushed Zircon back into reality. When he opened his eyes, he could hear Ruby and Sapphire calling his name while leaning over him, "Zircon. Zircon are you ok?" Ruby was shaking Zircon's shoulders as he shook his head quickly to regain his consciousness. "Oh good, he's awake." Ruby sighed out in relief. Zircon looked down at the Ruby fragment he had in his hands, just in shock at what he witnessed. "Zircon, are you ok?" Sapphire leaned forward, trying to look at his face. "She…didn't want to fight." Zircon slowly said, making Ruby and Sapphire double took, trying to understand what he meant. "I-I mean, she did at first, b-but something made her not want to near the end."

"Zircon?" Ruby leaned over with Sapphire now, confused.

"Eh…i-it's nothing." Zircon shook his head smiling. He stood up and pulled out a necklace he made that had a small bottle attached to it. Inside it already was the Bloodstone Soldier fragment he found last time. "This wasn't my fragment and it didn't have any clear information from it." He explained while placing the Ruby fragment into the bottle necklace.

"Are you sure?" Sapphire look up at Zircon with a serious look. He could tell she was using her future vision on him. However, Zircon smiled and nodded his head lightly, "I'm sure. I promise." Sapphire looked at him for a moment before smiling, "Thanks for telling the truth Zircon. Alright, let's head on back. Steven probably wants to hear about this as soon as we get back." Sapphire and Ruby started to walk out as Zircon stayed behind for a moment, hovering his hand over his stomach like his mother did in the flashback. He then clenched his hand tightly before walking out as well.


	18. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

"Alright boys, come on down! We're ready for pictures!" Pearl called up, holding a camera in her hand. "Now how exactly does this work again?" Pearl moved the camera around, inspecting it, while Garnet laughed lightly, "So Steven asked you to take pictures of this?"

"Actually Garnet, Zircon asked." Pearl responded.

"Zircon did?" Garnet tilted her head slightly right before Steven and Zircon ran downstairs, each wearing a certain costume. Steven was wearing a very loose, red kimono and wore a white wig with dog ears on it. Zircon was wearing a yellow and black jacket with maroon pants and a headband around his head, tilted slightly on top of a white, spiked up wig. "Who are you guys supposed to be anyway?" Amethyst asked, leaning up on the kitchen counter. "Oh! I'm the main character from that Inuyasha series Zircon showed me!" Steven jumped up, the loose fabric flowing up with his jump.

"And I'm one of the main characters from the anime, Soul Eater." Zircon lightly smiled.

"Ah ok. Alright you two, get ready for the photo." Pearl reminded, getting the photo ready.

"Wait Pearl! We're still waiting for someone!" Steven quickly stopped.

"Huh?" Pearl looked up from behind her camera, confused. "I thought it was just gonna be you and Zircon going." As if on cue, the front door of the Crystal Sanctum was knocked on. Opening up the door, Zircon was standing in front of a now dressed up, bright smiled Peridot. "Hello fellow Okamus!" Peridot held her hand up, yelling out. A sweat bead hung over Zircon's head as he smiled nervously, "Heh Peridot…the term is called Otakus." Peridot smacked her forehead with her palm, "Ooooh! Sorry Zircon." She shrugged.

"Hey that's no problem. Besides, your cosplay looks terrific." Zircon said, looking over Peridot's costume. She was wearing a black, zip-up shirt and black pants with a red jacket overtop, and white gloves. "And you make an excellent Edward Elric, Peridot! I'm really impressed!" Zircon leaned over, patting the top of Peridot's head. She laughed, "I never thought I'd be praised from someone of the Bloodstone family~! This is the most significant day of my life so far~!"

"Just remember who it was who helped you make the costume in the first place." Someone spoke behind Peridot. When Zircon looked, he was rather surprised to see Lapis standing there. "Lapis?! Well um, this is a surpri-"

"Stuff it…" Lapis spoke, interrupting Zircon who just shut his mouth.

"Guys, Lapis actually wants to come along with us~!" Peridot announced. Zircon became a little wary since him and Lapis are still not on good terms yet, unfortunately, "I-Is that so?" He commented.

"Nervous Bloodstone?" Lapis responded.

"What? Absolutely not. And the name is Zircon, thank you."

"I'm only calling you what you are…" The glares between the two were intensifying, calling for Peridot and Steven to break it up.

"Come on guys, this is my first convention. I don't want you guys to be arguing the entire time during this." Steven explained as Lapis and Zircon never thought they'd ever be lectured by him. "So please?..." Steven finally made puppy dog eyes, forcing Lapis and Zircon to break. "Okay…" They both said rather monotone. As naïve as Steven was, he took it, "Alright! Now let's get together for the group photo!" Steven took both Zircon and Lapis's hands, making the two stand in the back with each other while Steven and Peridot were in the front. Pearl readied up the camera, "Alright you guys, ready?"

Zircon and Steven laughed, "Pearl, you're holding the camera upside down." Zircon admitted, making Pearl blush to quickly fix it. After flipping it, Zircon gave the thumbs up. "Alright, you all ready?" Pearl readied the camera again. With Peridot and Steven scooching in to make sure they're in, Lapis and Zircon had to scoot in towards each other too, making them glare at each other, even as the picture was taken. "Alright! You guys look amazing." Pearl complimented after placing the camera down. "Now remember, be careful with strange people, be smart with your money," Garnet then looked at Lapis and Zircon, continuing off of Pearl's lecture, "And no, gem-powered fighting. Understand?" Lapis and Zircon looked to the side, responding, "Yes m'am." Garnet smiled afterwards, "Alright then, you all have a fun time."

With the needed permission, Steven jumped out the front door, cheering, followed behind by Peridot doing the same thing. This left Zircon and Lapis to walk behind together. Wanting to keep the promise that he made to Steven, Zircon tried to make small talk with her, "So um…never really thought that you would go to something like this Lapis." Lapis just kept staring ahead, paying no attention to Zircon's words. Groaning slightly, Zircon tried to think of something else to say. "Don't get me wrong Zircon," Lapis finally spoke, making Zircon jump a little from the sudden notion. "I enjoy that Peridot has another form of tele-transferred entertainment…but I could never trust you to be alone with them…" Lapis's sharp, cold words pierced Zircon's ears, making him lose the strength to respond. "And the only thing that's keeping me from doing anything to you is that for some, strange reason Steven considers you as a friend." Zircon's eyes closed more the more Lapis went on. "To me…you're nothing more than a monster that has yet to pounce on his prey…" Those last words of hers made Zircon stop in his tracks, choking up a little bit. Being called a monster is his never-ending fear and that fear has only been amplified since he was finally able to find a place he belonged in. He let Lapis walked a few, couple feet ahead of him before he began to walk himself, wondering if he'll ever be able to erase the deeds of his mother.

Miles away from Beach City, a figure in a fully covered, brown cloak was walking down the side of the road, looking down the entire way. When a honk could be heard, the cloaked figure looked up towards the road. Standing in front was a truck filled with two gruff looking men. The thing was, this cloaked person seemed to have a well fitted figure, catching their eyes. One of the guys, sitting in the passenger seat whistled, "Whew, hey their missy. It's a long way to the next city. If you want, we can give ya a ride and maybe something extra." The cloaked lady said nothing as the guy in the driver's seat said, "Come on man, there's no way you can be able to get a lady like that, even if she's the dumbest broad in the world and you're the only guy in the world." The driver's friend looked back at him with a glare, "What was that?! I could make you eat those words."

"Whoa, come on it was just a joke." The driver laughed. Smirking, the cloaked lady made a hand motion underneath her cloak. In a brief moment, the passenger guy's eyes widened, "It's not funny!" He then proceeded to beat the living heck out his friend in the driver's seat as the two got into an all-out brawl in the middle of the car. As this happened, the cloaked lady just continued walking forward passing a sign that says "Beach City 2 Miles Away".

"Hehehe…this place may be more fun than I thought…" From underneath her cloak, a smirk could be seen as well as glowing, orange eyes.


	19. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

"Whoooa!" Steven and Peridot were looking at all of the different cosplayers through the front door window, their eyes widening. Zircon was just paying for the four's tickets, but as soon as he handed Steven and Peridot their own, they leaped on inside. "Whoooa!" They now looked at artist booths, their eyes now turning into stars. "Whoooooooa~!"

"Guys! Hahaha, I know it's really overwhelming for your first year here," Zircon waved his hands downwards, trying to calm them, "But you guys need to learn how to organize your time schedu-"

"FORWARD TO ANIME!" Steven and Peridot yelled as they ran off ahead.

"Gyah! G-Guys! Uuugh…" Zircon facepalmed, his eyes narrowed and looking between his fingers. "Kids will be kids I guess right Lapis?" He looked over at her, smiling lightly.

"Of course. It's in there nature…" Lapis glared back at him before walking on ahead towards where Steven and Peridot ran off to. Zircon mumbled out a groan in reaction to Lapis's attitude. "This is gonna be a looooong weekend…"

The Gems walked on around the convention with Steven and Peridot being impressed with all of the different kinds of cosplayers, especially the REALLY good ones. Zircon was actually able to get a picture of them with a life-sized model cosplayer of Kuzan from One Piece in his Zoan form with Lapis just staring at the person wide eyed in a mixture of shock and respect. They were even able to go to a couple of the panels, but Zircon had to drag Steven out of some that had three X's labeled on the doors. One of the panels they went to talked about Studio Ghibli movies that Zircon wasn't able to show them yet. Studio Ghibli even had a panel that sold a bunch of copies of their movies. Steven was tugging on Zircon's sleeve very roughly, making Zircon sweat slightly with a nervous smile, "Steven you nut-head, I don't think I have enough money to get you ALL of them."

"Can you at least get me that My Neighbor Totoro movie~! When they talked about it at the panel, I just had to watch it~!" Zircon smiled at Steven's enthusiasm, "You just want to get because you think he's adorable, don't you?" Steven stayed silent for a moment before hunching his head over with lines over him, "Yes…"

Meanwhile, Peridot was looking at a DVD case for Ghost in the Shell, "Huh I must say, this kind of technology in this movie could greatly benefit the humans here? Yet why is it so hard for them to make technological things like these in shows a reality? I mean, they talk about it in all of these Sci-Fi animes like they know what they're doing. Capitalize on it~!" Peridot raised her fist up, making Zircon's head tilt back, "These guys are gonna ware me out before afternoon."

"Peridot, what movie are YOU planning on getting?" Steven asked. Peridot just held up a copy of Studio Ghibli's Ponyo, making her smile lightly.

"Now then, the time has come that we visit my favorite part of the convention." Zircon announced as they stood in front of a wide array of double doors leading into a massive room. Steven, Peridot, and Lapis looked inside as they saw many TVs and blaring lights. "That's right! Time to visit the gaming room~!" Zircon was about to jump on in before Steven and Peridot grabbed onto his collar and pulled him away to do other things. "You guys are bullies you know that~?! You don't come between a man and his games~!" Zircon whined, crying waterfall tears. Surprisingly, he actually heard Lapis let out a chuckle, making him lean one of his ears towards her, "I'm sorry, do my ears deceive me? Or did I hear a laugh come from the hydro queen herself over something I said?"

Lapis's body completely stiffened up from goosebumps due to Zircon's comment, "What?! D-Don't be absurd! I was only laughing because you were crying like a baby is all." Lapis looked away, clenching her teeth slightly, not wanting to admit it.

It was around lunch time by now, but Steven and Peridot were still running around the area they were at while Zircon and Lapis sat down at a chair to watch Steven's food. Zircon has already begun digging into his own food. "Oi, Bloodstone…" Lapis called out. Zircon had a salmon roll halfway in his mouth as he looked over at her, a question mark hanging over his head. "You know…I really can't peg you down for some reason." When she continued, it only made Zircon tilt his head in confusion, finishing up with nibbling on his salmon roll, "What do you mean Lapis?"

"I mean…I still believe you're nothing but a deceitful letch who's true motives are yet to be revealed."

"Hmmm…still on about that huh?" Zircon continued eating.

"But that's not all though…when I see you with Steven, it's like you're a completely different person." Lapis looked down at her hands, holding them together in her lap.

"You know, it's funny." Zircon muffled with a mouth full of food, "I actually think the same thing about you."

"What?!" Lapis blushed a slight blue from Zircon's sudden spectrum.

"I mean, whenever you're talking to or with Steven, you're always smiling and even laughing sometimes. However, when you're not hanging with him…you just seem so distant."

"That's not true! I'm on good terms with Peridot now." She tried to throw Zircon's words back in his face.

"But you weren't from the beginning, right?" This comment of his made her shut up, just staring at him wide eyed, knowing he got her. This only made her a little angrier now. When she felt her anger boiling, her eyes widened, "Don't think you got me pegged or anything Bloodstone!..." She blurted out, making Steven, Peridot, and nearby cosplayers look over at the now yelling Lapis.

"Hey Lapis, keep your voice down, you're in a public place." Zircon stood up, trying to keep the situation calm.

"Oh, so now you consider yourself a keeper of the peace huh?! How can you even think of yourself like that when so many innocent Gems were crushed by your mother's hands?!" Lapis bashed. Now Zircon's anger was reaching his limit as his eyes widened too, "Oh, and as if you're innocent?! Last time I remember, you're the person who made the ocean here disappear at one point!" Zircon saying this made some people gasp since it was a huge problem that happened. Starting to fear the worst situation, Steven was starting to have a mental panic storm about this, "P-Peridot, help me!" Steven and Peridot ran on over to the two.

"What did you just say to me you Gem murderer?!" Lapis continued lashing out at Zircon before Steven and Peridot got in between the two, Steven holding back Zircon and Peridot holding back Lapis. "Can you guys quit it!?" Steven shouted, seeming as if to make Zircon and Lapis snap out of their little rage fest since they both looked down at him. However, when they looked back up at each other, their glares returned. "Steven, let's enjoy this convention without the instigator here." Lapis insulted.

"L-Lapis wait!" Steven urged, but not until before Zircon got his two cents in, "Well if you think I'm such a problem, then I'll just go off and do my own thing."

"Wow, first time we agreed on something." Lapis retorted in a nasty way. After that, the two turned their backs on each other and walked off in opposite directions. "Yeesh…where the heck did that come from?" Peridot commented.

"Peridot…something was wrong. Zircon and Lapis were arguing." Steven pointed out.

"Yeah? What else is new? Those two always seemed to bicker." Peridot shrugged.

"N-No…something felt different about this time though."

"What exactly do you mean by that?"

"It was if I could see something aggravating those two…almost as if something was forcing them to say those things to each other…" Steven explained. Him and Peridot looked at each other in worry before deciding to head on after Lapis first.

Off to the side, the cloaked person with a feminine figure smirked, having most of her face hidden by the shadow from her cloak. From at her feet, some kind of orange smoke ran up her leg and underneath where the cloak's entrails ended, "Fufufu…It seems like things are starting to heat up. Maybe…" She looked off in the direction that Zircon went off in, "It's time I place myself onto the game field now~."


	20. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

"Lapis! Lapis come back!" Lapis turned to hearing Steven call after her, making her smile, "Oh Steven, thanks for choosing me."

"Choosing you? What do you mean?" Steven lightly took Lapis's hand in his, "We're going back to go and get Zircon now." Lapis withdrew her hand from Steven's hold, turning away from him and Peridot, "There is no way I'm going back to that person. In my opinion, you shouldn't go back for him either."

"Lapis how can you say such things about him?!" Steven started.

"Steven, his mother was the one who put me in that wretched mirror in the first place!" Lapis snapped turning towards Steven, who responded with, "Well what about me?" Lapis's guard was dropped from Steven's question.

"Wh-What?" She stammered.

"What about me? I'm the son of Rose Quartz." Steven continued.

"Steven, I don't understand where you're going with this."

"If Garnet and the others knew you were in the mirror, then my mom would had to have known too. I hate to admit it, but my mom did nothing to release you from the mirror. Not to mention she started the rebellion that made you be on Earth in the first place. When everything's said and done, you should hate me just as much for what my mother did as much as why you hare Zircon for what his mother did." Lapis was backing away, holding her left, "B-But you saved me from that prison…"

"And does it even stick with you that Zircon saved me?" Steven pointed out, almost seeming like he was about to choke up from his own words. Lapis looked away with wide eyes, not even feeling able to look into Steven's eyes now. "For how much you care about me, I'm surprised you're not thankful about Zircon doing that…and he's trying too. Don't think I didn't notice in how you talk to him when he tries to talk to you…" Steven sniffled slightly, "And if you can't even give him a chance then…then maybe you should just go back to the barn." Lapis's head quickly shifted towards Steven's direction, completely lost for words. "Come on Peridot, let's go find Zircon." Steven started walking off. Peridot looked back and forth between him and Lapis before she followed behind Steven, looking back at Lapis for a moment. Lapis leaned up against the wall behind her and slowly slid down it, "Steven…" She was able to mutter out.

Zircon was walking through the back hallways of the building where he could be alone. He kicked at the ground, grunting in anger, "I haven't been saying anything mean to her recently! I apologized in place of my mother for what she did to her! I even didn't object to her coming along with us here AND I paid for her ticket! What the heck do I have to do!" He slammed his fist against the wall in front of him, clawing his nails against it with his other hand too. "Oh my~…such negativity coming from one person~…" A mysterious voice spoke behind Zircon, making him turn around quickly to see no one there.

"Who was that?" Zircon called out, his eyes squinting in a glare, looking for who the voice belonged to.

"Mmm~…this feeling about you…why do you have Bloostone's aura child?..." The voice continued.

"I'm the son of Bloodstone. What's it to you?" He snapped back.

"A lot more to me now than before~." Stepping forward from down the hallway was the cloaked woman, facing sideways from Zircon. He slowly looked over to her before she returned the gaze back, eyeing at him with her glowing, orange eyes. "Those eyes aren't natural…" Zircon mumbled, taking out his sickle dagger.

"Aaaawe…why must you pull such a weapon on someone as defenseless as me~?…" The woman giggled.

"Why do I have a feeling you're as defenseless as you say?" Zircon responded, gripping his dagger tightly. The cloaked woman started to walk towards him, taking off the part that loomed over her head. She had long, hip length, sherbert colored hair and her skin was as orange as the sun. Right below her neck and above her chest area, there was a spherical gem, embedded right between her collarbones. "A gem?..." Zircon took a step back from this realization, but was also taken aback by how beautiful she looked, even blushing a light green some. He quickly shook his head though, "Focus Zircon…". The female stepped even closer to him, forcing Zircon to lean back against a wall. She stopped, about a half a foot from in front of him. "Heh…I believe you~." She chuckled out.

"E-Excuse me?" Zircon leaned his head away as much as he could.

"About you being Bloodstone's son~. Your eyes are just like hers~." The back of her hand began to slowly rub against Zircon's cheek, giving him goosebumps. "Such a bright color~…filled with so much~," She leaned forward to Zircon's ear whispering into it, "Rage~."

Zircon quickly put his dagger up to the woman's neck as she merely smiled and slowly pushed it away, "My name is Carnelian~…" She now held one of her hands up to her mouth, facing outwards, "And we're gonna have a lot of fun~." Blowing into her hand, an orange dust blew into Zircon's face.

"Peridot did you find him?" Steven called over to Peridot as she was breathing heavily from having to run around the entire. "No. I didn't see a single sign of him."

"Ngh…where the heck could he be?" Steven began to worry, crossing his arms as he tried to think hard of where he could be. Just before he could speak, an explosion could be heard from somewhere in the building as people began to run away in crowds from where the explosion came from, "What the?!" Peridot fell back off of the chair that she was sitting on. "Peridot come on! If Zircon is still here, he could be running to that explosion's source, even as we speak!" Steven grabbed Peridot's arm with both hands and started to run towards where the explosion occurred.

They pushed through the people who were running away when they came upon a railing, looking over the fountain area of the building. Down there, they could see that place was completely wrecked and Zircon was already down there. "There he is!" Steven smiled brightly as he started to run down.

"Steven wait! Something doesn't seem right!" Peridot called back, trying to stop him. Steven stopped right behind Zircon, "Zircon, what happened?! Did you see who did this?" Zircon's head slowly turned to look behind at Steven with Steven immediately sensing something was off. Zircon's irises were still the same, green color, but his pupils were a bright orange.


	21. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

"Z-Zircon?" Steven soon found himself placing up a bubble to defend from a giant, skeleton hand slamming down against him. "Ah! Z-Zircon, what's wrong?!" The skeleton hand then backhanded the bubbled up Steven, making him fly back and crashing the bubble into a wall. "Steven!" Peridot called out from above, but quickly sighed out in relief to see that Steven's bubble held up.

Zircon started to walk over to Steven, summoning his sickle dagger out from his gem. From thinking quickly, Zircon was smashed away to the side by a metal railing that Peridot sent out at him, "Steven run!"

"Peridot, I can't leave him!" Steven got up and ran on over to see Zircon throw the metal railing off with two skeletal hands that popped up from the ground. "I don't understand. Why is he acting like this?"

"Why~? Hehehe~…" Standing up on a ledge behind Zircon was Carnelian, laughing into the back of her hand, "That would be me little one~…this Bloodstone here is under my complete control due to his amount of negativity~. I must say, that argument between him and that Lapis was really amusing and proved my Nega-Dust is more potent than I thought~."

"What?!" Steven leaned forward in shock, "So it was you that's been making Zircon and Lapis argue recently!"

"Haha please don't give me all of the credit~. Those two already had so much negativity towards each other, it wasn't hard for me to make their anger skyrocket. I must say, if you didn't interfere they may have actually gone to fight each other~. Ooooh the mere thought of such malice all built up into two people~. It's enough to make me want to scream out hahaha~." Carnelian bit on one of her index fingers, making Peridot raise an eyebrow, "Steven get out of there, she doesn't seem stable!"

"I said not without Zircon!" Steven called back up, only to turn around and see Zircon throwing a punch at him. It connected right into Steven's cheek, sending him skidding across the ground and knocking his cosplay's wig off. "Steven!" Peridot cried out. She jumped down and stood in the way between Steven and Zircon, using her magnetic abilities to rise up different kinds of metal alloy around her, "Don't make me hurt you Zircon! You're a friend! Stay back!" Carnelian walked up behind Zircon, placing her hands on his shoulders and whispered into his ear, "Kill them my Bloodstone pet~…Do what you were born to do…and fight~." Zircon's pupils shrunk from her words, making him run straight at the two. Peridot had no other choice but to start chucking the metal alloys at Zircon who just bobbed and weaved right past them, slicing up any alloys he couldn't dodge. She quickly rose her hands up to brace herself only for Steven to jump out from behind her and backhand Zircon away with the front of his shield. Zircon's feet skidded as he was knocked back, quickly stopping him only about a couple dozen feet away from them. He playfully cracked his neck and smirked, a little bit of blood coming from his lip.

"St-Steven, this isn't good. Zircon has a Bloodstone's gem genetics and is just way too powerful for both of us to take on." Peridot looked behind Steven, frightened, while clutching his shoulders with her hands.

"Then maybe I can do something about it." Everyone looked towards the railing of the second floor lookout of the fountain area to see Lapis standing on top of it. Carnelian just smiled, "Well well, if it isn't the Lapis. Care to join our little party sweetie~?" She tried to provoke. Lapis responded with summoning her water wings and walking off of the railings, slowly descending to the fountain area's ground floor where everyone else was. "Lapis?" Steven brandished a face of extreme worry as he saw a look of intense anger in Lapis's eyes, looking straight over at Zircon.

"What did I say Steven?...He would turn on you eventually." She growled out.

"Lapis no! He's just under her control!" Steven cried out.

"I've heard enough." Placing her hand out, Lapis called water forth from the fountain in the room and surrounded herself with the huge amount, ready for a fight.

Carnelian smiled even more and leaned in to Zircon's ear again, "Now's your chance my Bloodstone, make mistress proud~." As before, Zircon dashed out after Carnelian's orders with the intent to kill, calling forth skeletal minions who were running beside him. The skeletal warriors leaped out at Lapis, but were quickly dispatched by her aquamancy. Zircon dove straight down at Lapis, slashing his dagger out at her multiple times and making her go on the defense with dodging the attacks. What the heck? He's faster than he was at the barn! Lapis thought. When Zircon performed another downward stab at Lapis, she caught his wrist with an aquatic tentacle, only for Zircon to drop his dagger, catching it in his other hand and trying to stab at Lapis's abdomen. Her eyes widened as she panicked and summon a water geyser that knocked Zircon away. Breathing heavily from her first, close encounter with Zircon, she realized something, "W-Was…Zircon holding his strength back when I attacked him at the barn?" Zircon sneered at her, moving his now wet, hair bang out of his eyes before slamming the palm of his left hand into the ground, calling normal sized, skeleton hands to grab Lapis's ankle. "What?!" She responded, looking back to see Zircon coming straight at her again. In heated desperation, Lapis sent all of her water out in sequenced blasts, Zircon slipping past all of them and delivering a flying spin kick, launching Lapis back into a wall. She yelled out from the sudden pain as she bounced off from it and landed onto floor, stomach side down.

"Yes! Do it~!" Carnelian yelled out in excitement. "I want to see her Gem fragments scatter all over the floor when you shatter her~! I want to see the anger in your eyes when you do it~!" Zircon raised his dagger while standing over Lapis, her gem on her back now visible to him. "Zircon stop!" Steven yelled out as he side-tackled Carnelian to the ground with his shield. Zircon's pupils grew back to normal as he held his left hand over his eyes and struggled back away from Lapis. "My Bloodstone! Help me!" Carnelian's voice only made Zircon's oranged pupils shrink again, turning quickly back and running over to where Steven was struggling with Carnelian, only for Steven to get kicked back in the chest by Zircon. "That little plebian touched me! Bloodstone my dear~…kill him for me~." She smiled, giving Zircon a peck on the cheek, making him walk forward to Steven with sickle dagger in hand.

Steven held himself up by his hands, scooting back against the ground, "Zircon stop! It's me! Don't listen to her!" He yelled out.

"Steven!" Peridot tried to stop Zircon by pulling on the back of his jacket, but he merely swatted her away with his hand, knocking her onto the floor.

"No…St-Steven…" Lapis struggled to look up from the side, watching as Zircon closed the distance more and more between Steven and himself. "Zircon…" Steven choked up, seeing his friend raise up the dagger to stab down at him. "We're friends….a family…right?" Steven slipped out with a tear running down his face. Zircon thrusted the dagger down only for it to stop, with the tip of the blade right in front of Steven's face. Steven looked up to see Zircon's teeth gritted as his arm was struggling against itself to pull the dagger back. "What?! What are you doing?!" Carnelian yelled out, "Finish him for me!" Yelling out at the top of his lungs, Zircon forced himself to pull the dagger up, only to stab himself in the left part of his chest. Everyone gasped out from this, making Carnelian scream, "What are you doing?!"

"I…" Zircon muttered out, slowly turning as he pulled out a second sickle dagger from his back, "AM NO ONE'S PUPPET!" He held his hand back, still struggling against Carnelian's control over him, and threw the second dagger at Carnelian herself, hitting her straight into her right shoulder. "Ah!" She fell back from the injury, forcing her control off of Zircon, immediately making him collapse from his own wound, "Zircon!" Steven leaned over top of Zircon, pulling Zircon over to lie on his back. They were soon joined by Peridot and Lapis, running over to them. "Zircon! Steven is he going to be okay?!" Peridot called out. Lapis, gritting her teeth in anger, glared over towards Carnelian only to see she was gone, leaving behind the cloak she was wearing the whole time. "No!" She yelled out at this sight only to be brought back by Steven's voice, "Zircon…Zircon wake up…" He whimpered out. Lapis turned to see that Zircon's eyes were closed as he was held up by Steven and Peridot, the latter of the two pulling out the dagger and quickly putting both of her hands on the wound to place down pressure. "Lapis! I need your help!" Peridot called back, Lapis running on over at her beckoned call. "Quick! Place both your hands on the wound and keep pressure on it!" Peridot ordered, Lapis immediately doing what she said. "Sorry Steven." Peridot apologized before ripping off the entire left sleeve of Steven's Inuyasha costume and using it as a makeshift bandage to cover up Zircon's wound. "Th-There…" Peridot sighed out, hoping she wasn't too late to stop the blood leakage.

"Zircon?..." Steven slightly shook Zircon as if trying to wake him up from a light slumber. "Zircon please…" Zircon wasn't budging though, making Steven's tears run out quickly and cry into Zircon's chest. "Zir-c-con!..." Steven babbled out through the crying. Lapis leaned back, completely in guilt from this situation, with Peridot lightly crying too beside Lapis.

"Oi…" A hand rubbed the top of Steven's head, "What are you crying for you nut-head?" Zircon smiled as his right eye slowly opened. "ZIRCON!" Steven tackled his friend, followed by Peridot as they both were laughing from this grateful moment, making Lapis herself smile with one tear falling down her cheek.

It wasn't long before Steven called the Gems to get them and help Zircon back to the house. There, Zircon was lying in Steven's bed, his back leaning up against the head mantle. Downstairs, Steven and the other Crystal Gems were trying to figure out what to do about the new threat of this Carnelian character. Hearing footsteps, Zircon looked to see if it was Pearl again coming to re-wrap his wound, only to see Lapis before him. "Well…this is indeed a surprise…" Zircon muttered out. Lapis looked down, holding her hands together, "Thank you…"

"Wait what?" Zircon looked to see if it really was Lapis who was standing before him.

"I…I said thank you." Lapis now took a seat at the foot of the bed, actually deciding to be this close to someone who she hated so much. "You were able to save Steven…again from what I've heard from him. Not just from Carnelian, but from yourself too…"

"…It was a very frightening moment for me Lapis…" Zircon continued on.

"What do you mean?"

"While I was under her control...My consciousness wasn't asleep while I was being used. I could… "see" everything that was going on…right down to the moment where I was about to kill my first friend I ever made in this lifetime of mine…" His hands tightly gripped on the bed sheets, "I've always hated myself when I was powerless in a situation…I tried and tried and tried to scream out and stop myself from doing it, but I just couldn't…it wasn't until I heard Steven reminded my mind that we were friends. That was what gave me the last push to break free from that Gem Witch's control…And for once I…I feel grateful. I feel happy that for once I had someone there to help me when I've been doing nothing my whole life but save those who would scorn me based on…well…" He held his hand on his face, "This…I am grateful that I didn't push that dagger down all the way…as well as that I'm grateful for you stepping in to stop me."

"Wh-What do you mean?! At that moment I…I still had those feelings of wanting to kill you for revenge."

"At that moment…I welcomed death if it meant I wouldn't hurt the ones I love." Lapis's eyes widened all the way from Zircon's words, looking straight at him.

"Zircon?..." Lapis started. Zircon looked over at her in curiosity. "When you were under Carnelian's control, you seemed to have been faster, stronger…at least, more so than you were at the barn. Were you holding back against me then?" Zircon looked up after the question was asked and responded, "Yes."

"Wh-Why though? I was trying to kill you!" Lapis leaned forward completely flabbergasted.

"Because you were Steven's friend…" He looked at her and smiled, making her blush a light, dark blue. "Tch…idiot…" Lapis looked away, narrowing her eyes, still having the blush. Zircon chuckled out softly. "I-I guess…I can follow by your example." Lapis looked back, smirking lightly too.

"Does this mean what I think it means?" Zircon poked at her, verbally. Lapis merely nodded her head, holding her fist out to Zircon. Still smiling with her, Zircon returned her gesture with a fist bump. "So here I have made another friend in my once perceived, lonely life."


	22. Mini-Chapter 2

Mini-Chapter 2

Zircon was walking back into the house after just completing his little afternoon jog when he walks in to see Steven giggling at his computer screen. Zircon took a deep breathe, "Don't involve yourself, don't involve yourself, don't involve yourself," Steven giggled again, making Zircon sigh out in defeat as he walked on over to Steven, "Ok, I'll bite. Wat'cha looking at Steven?"

"Hehehe, Zircon have you heard about shippers?" Steven looked up at Zircon with a bright smile on his face.

"You're kidding me right? Shippers are like…half of any kind of fandom." Zircon spoke bluntly. "So what exactly did you find that spark interest in that side of fandom?"

"Well, remember how I told you that Takeo and Yamato from My Love Story are one of my favorite anime couples?"

"Yes, because I taught you well." Zircon smirked, rubbing Steven's head.

"Well, it made me wonder what other good anime couples are out there and then I found some pretty funny ones that are never gonna happen." Steven snorted from a laugh from just thinking about some of the pairings.

"Heh really. Alright, you've got me interested now. What did you find?" Zircon leaned in.

"Sesshomaru and Kagome from Inuyasha." Steven started.

"Ugh, no way in heck." Zircon responded, beginning the back and forth.

"Maka and Death the Kid from Soul Eater."

"He'll drive her nuts with symmetry before they even go on their first date."

"And then…Eighteen and Cell from Dragon Ball Z?"

"…Ok, now that's just wrong. New site." Zircon touched the interactive screen on the computer, taking them to another fan forum. "Hm? What's this?" Zircon looked at the new forum they were on and Steven jumped up in excitement, "Zircon! Someone made a fandom for the Crystal Gems~!" Zircon's eyes quickly narrowed and responded, "New site." Before he could click out of the screen, Steven clung to Zircon's arm, giving him the puppy dog eyes. "Ugh…fine! Don't say I didn't warn you though…" Zircon left the screen alone, allowing Steven to look through the fandom of their group. "Huh, they even have pairings here too." Steven discovered.

"Oh god no, this is too meta for my own good…" Zircon groaned, "What do they say?" Steven blushed slightly and said, "Well there's one for me and Connie."

"Heh, ok I'll give them that one." Zircon chuckled.

"Oh, but there seems to be one for you and Lapis too!"

"What?!" Zircon zoomed over to the screen with Steven laughing, "Hey! You guys would actually look great together!"

Meanwhile, at the Barn

"Achoo!" Lapis sneezed. "Oh man, I hope I'm not coming down with something…"

Back at the Crystal Sanctum

"Huh? You and Peridot?" Zircon tilted his head. "Actually that…that looks kind of adorable." He admitted.

"Haha your right, we do look adorable~!" Steven chimed out.

"Whew, thank god you're still a nut-head…" Zircon muttered to himself.

"Wait…apparently there's a pairing of…me and you." Steven announced. Both him and Zircon looked at each other before looking back, "New site." They both spoke in unison.

"Huh? What's this?" Steven surfed his mouse over site search options.

"What's what?" Zircon leaned to look over Steven's shoulder.

"It says "Rule 34". Zircon what's Rule Thirty-" Before Steven could finish, Zircon turned off the computer, "No more internet for a week!" Zircon blurted.

"What?!"

"Do you wanna make it a month?!"

"No sir!"


	23. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

It's been six months since the Carnelian incident. It was nearing the end of October, but still barely even a chilly wind here in Beach City. Out on the beach near the Crystal Temple, Zircon was practicing with his weapons as well as his fists, actually having his cloak off and letting the sun soak his green tinted skin for once. With each swing or punch he threw a bit of sweat shot out from his overall body, having been at this for an hour or so now hitting wooden dummies prepared for him by Garnet. However, on his last punch, it cleaved one of the dummies in the half, making him look at his hand in a bit of shock. Before he knew it, a massive pain throbbed about Zircon's head, making him clutch it in pain while his eye colors were switching between his usual green color to an orange color.

"Zircon?!" Garnet soon ran over to Zircon, having been watching him from the house's front deck. Zircon quickly rose his hand up, "Stay back…" When his other hand at his hand, slowly lowered down, his eyes stabilized back to their normal green. Garnet frowned slightly, "It's the side effects from that Carnelian's Nega-Dust, isn't it?..."

"Sadly..." Zircon responded, taking out a small towel to wipe the sweat from his face. "Ever since I came into contact with her, I felt as if my core instincts as a Bloodstone have been acting up more…"

"Are you finally going to let Steven in on this?" Garnet asked.

"N-No. Having just you, Pearl, and Amethyst knowing is good enough…Steven is attending school now at this Towns-whatcha-call-it High and what happened at the convention six months ago was very taxing on him. I don't want to make him worry even more…" Zircon felt Garnet's hand on his right shoulder as he saw her on his left, "You have definitely changed since the first time you walked into this city Zircon." Garnet smiled. Zircon couldn't help but return the small gesture with a smile of his own. "A-Alright I need to get back to training." Zircon pointed out.

Hours later, Zircon and Garnet returned inside to see the crystal teleporter activated and coming in from it was Steven, as bright as usual. "Hey guys! I'm back!" Steven jumped off from the crystal teleporter and ran on over to Pearl.

"Oh, how was school Steven?" Pearl leaned over to talk to Steven.

"It was great! I'm really glad you and Zircon were able to find this place for me. And since they got a crystal pad installed in their city, I'm able to go there, no problem at all." Steven scuttled out excitingly. (Read Townsville Heroes: Prologue)

"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself Steven." Zircon smiled lightly, having his jacket and hoodie on again.

"Zircon? You heading off somewhere?" Steven asked. Zircon eyed over at Steven, "Oh, me and Garnet found a location of another Gem Fragment. Don't worry, once I get back you can tell me all about your day at school, nut-head." Zircon rubbed the top of Steven's head, making Steven laugh lightly. Once Garnet and Zircon stepped onto the pad, it teleported them into a beam of light, sending them off.

This time, they found themselves in, "Venice, Italy?!" Zircon was kind of surprised, "H-Hold on, why are we here?"

"Remember that lady friend of Pearl's?" Garnet spoke.

"Oh, the biker chick?" Zircon's head perked up slightly.

"Mhm. Turns out she's got pen pals all around the world who follow her social medias, as well as Pearl. And on one of the pen pal's posts, Pearl saw a picture of what seemed to be a Gem Fragment."

"…Pearl does social media?" Zircon commented before getting a slight bonk on his head by Garnet, "Not the point, Zircon."

"Nnngh, r-right. So the picture was taken from here in Venice." Zircon began to rub the top of his head.

"That's right, at a place called the Gallerie dell'Accademia."

It wasn't long until the two came along to the museum itself, along the way Garnet was getting a lot of stares from the locals where Zircon had to explain that her looks was a style going on in the United States. He had to say something to keep the two from gaining suspicion. When walking in the place, Zircon noticed that there were security guards stationed at all of the entrances of the place. "Darn…Garnet we're going to have to do this quick if we don't want to go to jail."

"Well do you have the fake gem that Pearl made?" Garnet asked. Zircon snuck her a look of the fake gem before arriving at the glass, cube casing of the real gem. The gem was a bright yellow, nice and shiny. No wonder when someone found this they brought it here. "I'll stand watch." Garnet looked around whereas Zircon went to work. Taking his left thumb and index finger, he was able to maleate the glass of the cube casing in order to make an opening to swap the two Gems. Zircon was able to take the Gem, but as soon as he touched it, his eyes glowed green along with the yellow gem glowing brighter.

Through Zircon's eyes, he could now see his mother, leaning over top and crying, "Oh god! What's happening?! Please speak to me?! Y-You're changing…" Mother? Zircon thought. In the background, violent growls could be heard as it seemed like whoever Zircon was witnessing this through was thrashing back and forth in pain in his mother's arms. Bloodstone looked at her hand before placing it over whoever Zircon was looking through's eyes. It was dark, at first, but eventually a green glow could be seen.

Zircon couldn't see anything else since he was broken out from the vision by a sudden grab at his wrist. It was one of the museum's security guards, "What are you doing?! Thief! There's a thief here!" The guard was yelling. Zircon noticed that Garnet was about to break into action, but to stop her; Zircon threw his sickle up at one of the room's sprinklers, setting the system off. While the guard was distracted, Zircon quickly head-butted him, making the guard release his wrist. "Come on!" Zircon then made a break for the side exit along with Garnet, running until the two of them were sure no one was following them.

They took up refuge in one of the alleyways with Zircon sliding down one of the building walls. "Zircon what happened? You just stopped while switching the Gems." Garnet looked down at Zircon a little worried as to why the previous events happened. All the while, Zircon was staring wide-eyed at his hand, like it was the one his mother reached out for, "That glow…" Zircon muttered. "Garnet I…I think this Gem Fragment is," He held up the yellow fragment. On a closer view, it could be seen as if dark green and purple blotches could be seen on it, "C-Corrupted…"

"What?!" Garnet stepped back in shock.

"But something happened…something my mother did. I-I can't explain it." Zircon continued. "There was this…light. It was comforting." Whistles could be heard from down the street. "Come on! We'll talk about this once we get back to the Crystal Temple, away from these cops."


	24. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Steven walked in through the front door of the Crystal Temple, wearing his red, fluffy hoodie up for some reason while walking around the place. While on the couch, Zircon definitely noticed this. "Hmmm, Steven?" Zircon called over to him. Steven jumped slightly from suddenly hearing Zircon's, "Ah! Z-Zircon, what are you doing here? I thought you were on the mission today with Garnet and them."

"Well someone had to stay behind when you got home ya nut-head. Today was my turn." Zircon chuckled.

"Oh R-Right." Steven's voice seemed to have trailed off. Zircon hummed to himself, looking over at Steven, "Steven, it's like sixty degrees outside. Take that hoodie off."

"Zircon, you keep a hoodie on all the time." Steven argued. This isn't like him to argue back, Zircon thought.

"Steven, I wear my hoodie all the time for a reason." He explained.

"Well maybe I do too!" Steven yelped out. "Oops." Steven quickly covered his mouth, making Zircon cock an eyebrow, "I'm sorry…come again?" Steven was now stumbling for words, making Zircon get up and pull Steven's hoodie off himself.

From what Zircon saw, it was enough to make any friend of Steven's blood boil. Right over the left side of Steven's face, he had a black eye. "Steven…who did this to you?"

"Z-Zircon please, don't get involved!" Steven pleaded. Obviously Zircon wasn't gonna take this lying down, "Steven! Tell me who was it who did this to you?" Hearing Zircon yell at him made Steven jump a little off of the ground. "Y-You don't know him. His name is Grub. He goes to Connie's school." The more Steven spoke, the more Zircon's eyes were turning Crimson with a hint of switching back and forth between the crimson color and the orange, Nega-Dust color.

"Why is he bothering you?..." Zircon growled slightly.

"H-He's doing this because I go to a school outside of Beach City…he says things like 'You're probably too stupid for a school here that you had to go to a school somewhere else' or 'What? You too good for this town ya preppy-'…"

"Go on?" Zircon inquired.

"I can't…h-he said things in that sentence that my innocent mouth shouldn't speak. T-Today he pushed me to the ground and him and his friends would continue making fun of me. When I tried to get up he…gave me this bruise…if Connie didn't show up to stop them th-they might've…done worse…" This finally made tears fall from Steven's eyes. Seeing this made Zircon's grip tighten around the arm sleeves of his jacket just so he couldn't destroy anything near him. "Seems like you got yourselves a bad case of bullying…"

"Zircon, what are you gonna do?!" Steven cried out.

"Isn't it obvious?! I'm going to give those sorry excuse for kids an earful!" Zircon lashed out, looking out the front door.

"W-Wait! We should wait for Garnet and them to return before we do anything!" Steven tried to stop Zircon, but he held Steven's hands to the side, "No, they've done a lot for you already. It's about time I throw my weight around now." With this, Zircon walked out the front door with Steven following behind.

From what Steven told Zircon, Grub and his boys hang out at the school after learning hours by the dugout where they would count their usual earnings they got from bullying kids out of their money. Zircon looked over the hillside that oversaw the dugout, seeing the group of boys gathered around each other in a circle. "Which one is Grub?" Zircon asked. Steven pointed to the tallest boy of the group. "Makes sense…the littler snots always gather around the biggest one…" When Zircon got a closer look at Grub, he was exactly what Zircon thought he would be like, very punky-esque. This Grub had a right side only shaved head that was died orange with the tips of it red and had on a ripped up, country jacket with pants torn up at the knees. Not to mention the spiked bracelet he had on and the ear and nose piercings he had. "Zircon? What exactly are you gonna do?..." Steven looked up still worried about what Zircon was going to do.

"Hey, don't worry buddy. Just stay behind me. I'm just going to talk to them."

Zircon slid on down the hillside with Steven following after, getting the attention of the boys, including Grub. Seeing Steven, this made Grub smirk out a sneer, "Well, well, if it isn't the powdered-rear chubb-o. Came back for more I see."

"You Grub?" Zircon called out, using his monotonous tone that he had when Steven first met him.

"Yeah, what's it to you? In fact who the heck are ya anyways?" This Grub definitely had a disrespectful mouth on him. Zircon knew he dealt with worse though, "I'm Steven's friend…"

"Oh, is that right?" Grub smiled slightly.

"Actually…I think of myself more as his older brother at this point." Steven looked at Zircon, surprised by his words. "I've been through a lot with this little nut-head. The kind of bond him and I share is ten times stronger than whatever flimsy alpha-beta nonsense you and your posse here have going on." Grub's smile turned into a little scowl, but still not showing any anger yet. "So when I saw what you did to Steven here, ooooh, I was mad. Still am mad. And I'm gonna tell you right now, if you ever lay another finger on him…" Now Grub was right up to Zircon's face, eye to eye, "What? Your rubber-glue attitude going to make me?"

"No, but the right people I tell at the school will." What Zircon said made some of Grub's boys stagger a little bit, but this stubborn mule didn't even bat an eye as he pushed Zircon down to the ground with all of his might, succeeding, "You think that's gonna stop me?!" With that, Grub got his boys' confidence back as they began laughing at the now grounded Zircon. As soon as he lifted his head up though, his hood fell off, revealing his green veined, pale-green skinned face. Almost a majority of Grub's group gasped out in terror from looking at Zircon, even Grub narrowed one eye in disgust, "What the?" His mouth soon returned to that demeaning sneer shortly enough, "Oh! Now I see why you hang out with chubber-nuts over there. He makes ya feel less like a freak!"  
Freak  
Freak  
Freak  
"Come on boys, let's head on ou-" Before Grub could even finish his sentence, he was laid flat on his rear from an uppercut by Zircon.

Looking at what happened, Grub's boys scattered like cockroaches. "Z-Zircon?!" Steven attempted to run over to Zircon only to see Zircon turn slightly towards him. Steven stopped and stared to see Zircon's pupils were shrunken and orange. "Just like the convention…Zircon…" From behind, Steven could just spot Grub standing up and seeing the shimmer of a hunting knife Grub pulled out from a sheathe on the back of his belt, "Zircon look out!" Zircon quickly turned on Steven's words only to get sliced a huge gash in his arm from the knife. Grub seemed to have a triumphant look on his face until he saw Zircon smirking right back at him, "Tsk, tsk, tsk…shouldn't have done that…" With a crack of Zircon's neck for warm-up, the terror enveloped in Grub's eyes, but it was too late for him. Zircon pulled Grub over by the base of his ankle and started wailing on Grub's face punch after punch, making his nose and mouth bleed slightly before Steven pulled back on one of Zircon's arms. "Zircon stop!" Zircon looked back seeming like he was going to hit Steven away, but when he saw his friend, Zircon's eyes went back to normal.

Finally regaining his senses, he looked down at the now beaten up Grub and quickly jumped off him falling back on the ground, "Wh-…What did I do?..." Zircon stammered. Pulling his phone out quickly, Steven called the first person that came to mind, "Hello?! Dad?! Me and Zircon are at the school's dugout!"

It was the late evening, hours after the incident, as up on one of the Crystal Temple Statue's hands, Zircon was overlooking the ocean, wrapped up in a wool blanket, thinking about what transpired earlier that evening. His left, upper arm was also wrapped up from the slash that Grub gave him. "Zircon?" Zircon looked back to see Pearl standing behind him. Zircon didn't answer. He just merely looked back out to the ocean as Pearl took a seat next to him. "…Grub was arrested and was charged with assaulted murder…but the charges were dropped because of what you did to him." Pearl explained. Zircon stayed silent. "Zircon wh- why didn't you wait for us to get back?"

"…I…all this time, you guys, Steven…you all gave me a home…a meaning to live my life fully…I just, I just wanted to give that kindness back anyway I could…" Zircon's hands slammed down against the statue hand's stone, "But I didn't mean for it to go this far! A-All I just wanted to do was talk things out and warn him, b-but as soon as he called me that word...Ngh!" Zircon held the front of his face with one of his hands, "I don't know if it was the Nega-Dust's fault or my stupid Bloodstone Genetics, but I still did what I did!..." Wrapping around the now broken down Zircon was one of Pearl's arms, calming him. "Zircon…I've been on this planet longer than you can imagine. And how you acted towards that boy, yes it was very extreme…but I've seen more extreme reactions to the same situation…"

"Wh-What do you mean?" Zircon looked up at her.

"Bullying is definitely a terrible thing that sadly it seems like more and more people each generation has to go through. But the most shocking thing though is that it's not just the words and actions of the bully that one has to overcome. It's also the anger that makes one want to act back in response, no matter if it's in their genes or some kind of outside source. The fact is you have a chance to grow stronger from this Zircon and be a better person than that boy."

"B-But Steven…"

"Steven is fine. In fact…you made him very happy today Zircon."

"What? H-How did I do that?" Zircon asked as Pearl giggled out, "You called him your brother." Zircon looked up at Pearl with brightened eyes before looking back out at the ocean's now star filled skies with her.

"Brother…"


	25. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Zircon and Amethyst had just returned from a mission they were on when they suddenly saw Pearl dressing Steven up all nice in a suit and bow-tie. "Yo, looking pretty dapper there Steven!" Amethyst commented.

"Yeah, I second on that." Zircon agreed, "What's with the snazzy look anyway?" Pearl stood up to answer for Steven, "Well you two, Steven here is going out on a date?" Both Amethyst and Zircon took a look at each other before looking back, "A date? With who?" They spoke in unison. Steven was blushing a bright red, twiddling his fingers, "W-With Connie." Steven felt a massive, friendly slap on the back by Zircon, "Seriously?! Aw man, I didn't think you had it in ya man."

"Th-Thanks Zircon." Steven was able to smile out of the nervousness he was feeling.

"Well hey, just know I'll be right here, hoping- no…knowing, that you and Connie are gonna have a good time." Zircon inspired, making Steven smile even more. A couple honks could later be heard outside. "Oh! That's my dad! See ya guys!" Steven ran on out.

"Good luck Steven!" They all yelled back. Once the room got quiet, Zircon held his chin, "Wait…what am I gonna do while Steven is out?" Dots flew up above Zircon's head, "Heh…you never realize how much stuff you do with someone until they're gone for the day."

"Hey, why don't you go and visit Peridot and Lapis at the barn?" Pearl suggested.

"Hmmmm, actually that's not a bad idea. Maybe I can see what new animes Peri discovered. All right, I'll probably be back late." Zircon headed on out the door, waving bye to Pearl and Amethyst.

It didn't take very long for Zircon to arrive at the barn thanks to Reaper. As he turned off the motor, someone called out to him, "Zircon? Is that you?" Lapis was looking out from the barn's second floor window.

"Heh, you know it!" Zircon called up.

"Huh? Where's Steven? You two are usually together." Lapis asked.

"Oh yeah, about that, Steven is actually out on a date with Connie."

"A date?" Zircon soon found Lapis right in front of his face after having flown down with her water wings. "What's a date?"

"Eh…" Zircon started to feel a bit awkward now. He never really went on any himself, but dates were such a basic, human thing to know about. Then again, Lapis isn't really human. "Well um…dates are…" Zircon was trying hard to find the right words. "Dates are sort of like a…initiation." A question mark hung over Lapis's head. "You see Lapis, dates are something that is done between two people, usually people who have been friends for quite some time. And usually when two friends want to go on a date, it kinda means that they want to up their relations."

"Ooooh, I think I get it. So at one point, Steven may want to go out on a date with me?" Lapis smiled while looking up, thinking about the notion.

"Eeeeh, it's a little more complicated than that, Lapis." Zircon rubbed his forehead.

"Hmph, alright then, I guess you'll have to show me." What Lapis said made Zircon jump back and blushed a dark shade of green. "H-Huh?!"

"Well, isn't it obvious? I want you to help me observe Steven's date." When Lapis finished the sentence, Zircon let out a relieved sigh, "Oh, th-that's what you meant. Whew…"

"Why did your face turn greener?"

"No reason! Let's just go!"

Zircon and Lapis drove into the city on Reaper as Zircon headed to the multiple places where he believed Steven and Connie could be on their date at. Eventually, the two came to a stop at a pretty nice restaurant, seeing Steven and Connie through one of the windows. "Oh, there they are." Lapis noticed, "But, they're just eating together. How is this connected to a date." Lapis and Zircon were now leaning against the parked up Reaper while Zircon started to explain, "Well dates are sort of "amped up" versions of what people would usually do."

"Hmm?"

"So like…last week, me, you, Steven, and Peridot ate pizza for dinner. That seems normal right?"

"Um, I guess." Lapis was still trying to put the pieces together.

"Now look at the place where Steven and Connie are eating, this isn't the kind of joint where one would hang out while eating and the food is more unique than pizza or hamburgers."

"I…I think I understand what you're saying. So on dates, the two people would usually do things that they don't really do much?"

"There, now you're getting it." Zircon laughed.

"Hmmm, they seem like they're gonna be here for a while. Maybe we should do something while we wait." Lapis suggested. Zircon looked over a little curious, "Oh yeah? Pray tell."

Lapis took Zircon's hand as they walked around the town, talking about whatever came to their mind and usually laughing about it in the end. It seemed as if the Beach City Boardwalk was open, so the two were able to go there, play some games, and even tried out some of the roller coasters. At one point Zircon was actually able to win a gigantic, stuffed Penguin for Lapis, "I-It's not really a real, giant penguin right?" Zircon just chuckled at Lapis.

At the end of it all, the two were overlooking the city on one of the Boardwalk's Ferris Wheels. Lapis giggled a bit to herself, "To be honest, I think that was the most fun I ever had with you of all people."

"Haha, hey the other times we were around each other, you tried to kill me." Zircon chuckled, making Lapis laugh still, "It really is strange how long we both came for each other." Lapis looked to the side out of the ferris cart they were in.

"Tell me about it…That convention did change us both for the best huh?"

"But Zircon…you still have the…" Lapis looked up at Zircon to see him looking down with a sad expression on his face. She held her hand to his cheek and made him look at her, "If there's one thing I know about you…hehe, you're a very stubborn person Zircon. I know you can beat whatever that temptress did to you." Zircon had a light blush of green on his face from Lapis's words, making her laugh again, "There it is again. Your face got greener again."

"Eh! N-No it's not!" Zircon quickly hid his face with one of his hands.

"Oh, Steven and Connie should be done with their date right now. Shall we?" Lapis held her hand out to Zircon, who kindly held it back as she flew both of them off to Connie's house.

Looking over the front of Connie's house from a rooftop, across the street, Zircon and Lapis could see Steven walking Connie up to the front door. "Steven, I had a really good time tonight." Connie started. Zircon chuckled to himself as he saw Steven blushing the whole time, "I-I did too Connie. It was fun." Leaning over to Steven, Connie pecked his lips lightly before walking on inside leaving a baffled, shocked, and red-faced Steven. "Oh that dog." Zircon laughed, "Go Steven." Lapis was confused and even blushed a little herself, seeing what Connie just did, "Z-Zircon? Why did Connie kiss Steven?" Zircon looked over Lapis, seeming like he wasn't done explaining about what a date was. "W-Well Lapis, this is what I meant about a date upping the relationship between two people. If the date went well…well, the two usually share a kiss, commemorating the advancement of their relationship."

"Did…did we just go on a date?" Lapis spoke out, almost making Zircon fall over the rooftop edge, "Wh-Wh-What?!"

"I mean, it was just us two, the Boardwalk was something we both never really do with each other…" Lapis explained. Oh my god, Zircon thought, "W-We did…didn't we?" Zircon turned to see Lapis right in front of Zircon's face making that blush of green return to him, "L-Lapis?" She smiled lightly, "Now I understand why your face has been turning greener while we were doing things today." Both of their faces were now nervous as Lapis leaned up and kissed Zircon. As she pulled back though…they both had a look of awkwardness, "Th-That was…" Zircon started, "Weird." They both finished, following up with both of them in an uproar of laughter.

"G-Guess our relationship isn't exactly advancing." Lapis spoke through her giggling as she held her stomach. Zircon finished up laughing, "Hahah…to be honest, I think our relationship is best this way." Lapis held up her right pinky to Zircon, "Friends for life?"

"…Friends for life." Zircon responded, wrapping his right pinky around hers.

Zircon closed the front door of the Crystal Temple behind as he let out a huge sigh, being exhausted from the events of today, not knowing that he was now standing in front of Steven and the Crystal Gems. "Zircon? Where were you at?" Steven asked.

"Oh, it seems like he finally returned from visiting Lapis and Peridot." Pearl answered. "So Zircon, what exactly did you do while you were their?" As Pearl asked, Zircon was walking up the stairs to his mattress bed that was next to Steven's, "Oh, I went on a date with Lapis." The air suddenly seemed to have grown cold. "Ooooooh…" Zircon slowly turned his head to see everyone's eyes widened and mouths gaped. "Eheh…guess I'm not getting out of explaining this one huh?..."


	26. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Sitting on the living area's couch, Zircon was looking at the palm of his right hand as well as the yellow gem fragment that him and Garnet were able to find back in Venice. The flashback he saw from this fragment still lingered in his mind. What was it exactly that Bloodstone was doing to the owner of this fragment? Whatever it was, it didn't seem to have stopped whatever it was she was trying to undo. "Zircon?"

"Ah!" Zircon leaped up slightly onto the couch only to see Steven in front of him, "Oooh, Steven don't sneak up on me when I'm in deep thought like that." Zircon sighed out.

"Sorry, I just wanted to see if you were doing better since the dugout incident." Steven smiled lightly, but it quickly turned into a frown, "I still don't know why you kept the whole Nega-Dust thing from me though…"

"Steven, I didn't want you to worry. You already have so much you're thinking about what with this new school you're attending over in Towns-whatever the heck it's called. I just wanted you to be able to think about a normal life for once and not this...well, you know." Zircon soon felt Steven giving him a big hug. Smiling, in response, Zircon rubbed Steven's head while Steven eyed at Zircon's wound. "I wonder." Steven spoke. "Zircon, could you should me your wound?"

"Huh? Um, sure, but I don't think you're gonna like what you see." Zircon took off his hoodie and shirt, showing Steven his wraps, which seemed to have still be bleeding from the gash that was underneath it.

Taking his own right hand, Steven licked it and was about to place it on Zircon's arm, before he pulled it away, "What the heck are you doing Steven?!" Zircon looked at Steven with widened eyes.

"No trust me! I know what I'm doing!" Steven then began to chase Zircon around the room.

"No way! You were going to put spit on me!"

"Well if you stand still, you'll see why!"

"There's no way I'm going to let you put spit on my wound!"

"Gotcha!" Steven tackled down Zircon, sitting on his chest, "Now just hold still!" Steven rubbed his spit covered hand over Zircon's wound, making Zircon get goosebumps and shivers. Soon, the wound began to sparkle and glow pink as it began to heal with the blood retreating back into the wound. "What?" Zircon looked at the now stainless wrap on his arm and quickly took it off, seeing that the wound from Grub's knife was gone. "Steven, h-how did you do that?"

"Oh! I have healing spit!"

"Healing…spit?" Zircon's head tilted, a little crank sound being heard as he did.

"Yes! You see my mother had healing abilities back when she was alive and when she made me, I got those powers too."

Zircon thought about what Steven said for a moment before looking at his hand. Immediately it was as if a light bulb went off in Zircon's mind, "Steven, that's it!"

"What's it?" Steven looked up a little surprised as to why Zircon was getting so excited.

"The flashback I saw of my mother!" Zircon took Steven by the shoulders and shook him some from the excitement he was getting, "What she was doing makes sense now! Eh, Steven, where do you guys keep all of the Corrupted Gems you found?!"

"Oh! Um, follow me." Steven led Zircon through the magic door in the back that led to all of the sub rooms inside of the Crystal Temple.

The two eventually arrived in a half-spherical, dome room where many variants of colors of gems were floating through the room all bubbled up. "Whoa…" Zircon looked up, "You guys were busy even before I first came here."

"Of course silly hehe. So, what exactly was it you were talking about back there?"

"When I first took hold of this fragment in Venice, I saw another flashback of my mother, only this time it seemed as if she was trying to prevent something from happening to the owner of this here fragment." Zircon held the yellow fragment in front of Steven.

"What exactly was it that she was trying to prevent?" Steven asked, looking at the gem fragment.

"Steven…this fragment right here belonged to a corrupted Gem."

"What?!" Steven jumped away slightly, now looking at the Gem with widened eyes. "Really, it all makes sense once I saw your healing…spit." Zircon hesitated saying that before pacing around the room. "In my memories, it seemed as if my mother was trying to cure this gem, but for some reason she was unable to and the corruption wasn't prevented in the owner of this fragment."

"Soooo," Steven continued to reel for an understanding.

"Soooo Steven…I think my mom had some kind of healing ability for these corrupted Gems and I came to believe that she may have passed it on to me."

"W-Wait, if your mother had the ability to heal the corruption in Gems, then why didn't it work on this fella here?" Steven pointed at the fragment that Zircon was holding.

"Well, that's why we're here…to figure it out." Zircon looked up at all of the bubbled up, corrupted Gems, "But which one should we try on first?" Something bright seemed to have shown in Steven's eyes, "I know just the one."

It wasn't long until Steven returned back to Zircon holding onto a bubble that contained some green, spherical kind of Gem inside it. "What the heck? This thing looks like a pokeba-" Steven interrupted Zircon's comment by unbubbling it and allowing the Gem to take shape into the little corrupted Gem, Centipeetle. "Centi!" Steven called out happily. Centipeetle looked up at Steven and jumped into his arms, nuzzling him. "Eh, wow, I must say I'm impressed Steven. Didn't think you could befriend a corrupted Gem." When Zircon spoke, Centipeetle hissed and growled at him, making the half-gem step back some. "Whoa, easy there Centi! This is Zircon. He's a friend." Centipeetle seemed to have eyed at Zircon for some time before jumping into Zircon's own arms and nuzzling him too. "Haha! She likes you Zircon!"

"Eh…y-yeah. Listen, Steven, is there a way that…Centi here can be able to go back into her Gem state." From hearing this, Centipeetle actually started whimpering, making Zircon sweat slightly, "Eh, s-sorry." Steven walked over and held onto Centipeetle, "Centi don't worry. We think Zircon here has a way to turn you back to normal." Centipeetle seemed to have indeed grew happy from this news as she began to run around the bubble room, screeching out roars of cheer. "Buuuut." Steven scooped Centipeetle back into his arms, "You need to be in your Gem for a little. Ok?" Centipeetle nodded in understanding before it poofed, leaving just the Gem.

"Ok then…" Zircon gently took Centipeetle's Gem and held onto it. Closing his eyes, and enveloping the Corrupted Gem was a bright, green light coming from Zircon's hand. Steven's expression turned shocked as he looked at what was going on. When the green light subsided, Centipeetle's Gem seemed to have changed where it is now a shinier, green sphere with no black linings like it had before. "Zircon, y-…you did it! Whatever it was you did." Steven cheered.

"It was just as I thought." Zircon started, "My mom has the ability to counteract the Corruption."

Zircon's smile quickly faded as the black lines started to form again on Centipeetle's Gem. "Wh-What?! No!" Zircon held the Gem tightly in great disbelief. "I-I don't understand." Steven thought for a moment before his very own light bulb shined, "Zircon, I think I know someone who's smart in this kind of stuff. Come on." Steven held onto Zircon, still gripping onto Centipeetle's Gem, and led him out of the room and eventually out of the front door of the house to Reaper.


	27. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

"You want me to what?" Peridot looked up at Steven and Zircon while Lapis was sitting over near the side.

"You know. Do whatever that scientifical viewing thing is." Steven explained.

"That's "Scientific Analysis", Steven." Zircon corrected. Peridot held her chin as she started to go into deep thought, "Why exactly do you two want me to do this?" Zircon decided to hold out the Corrupted Gem to Peridot as she reacted appropriately, "What the heck?!" Peridot jumped up into Lapis's arms. "Why did you guys bring a Corrupted Gem here?!" Peridot continued with her yelling.

"Peridot, it's ok. This Corrupted Gem here is actually a friend." Steven stated.

"A friend?" Lapis tilted her head.

"Yes, this is the Gem belonging to Centipeetle. She's a Corrupted Gem who I was able to befriend and…even came close to turning back." Steven looked down as he was trying to explain. Zircon saw this only making his drive to try and make this power of his work even more. "So can you please help us Peridot?" Steven requested, showing Peridot his sad expression. Peridot sighed out, "You know you're cheating when you give me that look. Fine, I'll do it." Peridot agreed.

Out in the backyard area of the farm, Peridot had an entire spectral analysis kit set up. She had these suction cups with tubes connected to them that led into this rectangular box that almost looked like an old computer modem. "Ok, if I made this right, this piece of equipment should be able to analyze the kinetic energy flow of this power of yours." Peridot explained as she moved Lapis and Steven back away from Zircon. "We'll give you your space, so go whenever you're ready." Peridot then readied a pencil and notepad. Looking down at Centipeetle's Gem, Zircon closed his eyes slowly and started to concentrate. From his hand, green energy began to flow once more, repairing Centipeetle's Gem like last time as well as Peridot's machine started to analyze from the suction tubes on Centipeetle's Gem itself. "Amazing." Lapis looked on in awe at what was going on. But like last time, as well, Centipeetle's Gem merely reverted back to its original, corrupted state. Zircon let out a gasp of exhaustion, a little frustrated that he failed again.

Peridot ran on over to her analysis machine to look at the data, "Interesting…"

"What is it?" Zircon asked as him and the others looked over Peridot's shoulders. Peridot pressed a button as it showed a flow chart. "This flow chart shows the amount of energy that this Gem has been revealing while you were trying to cure it." Peridot pointed to the highest point of the energy flow, "You see this? This point was pretty much where the Gem was fully cured, but as you see," Peridot trailed her hand further down the chart, seeing it was decreasing, "The energy that you were giving this Gem was quickly disappearing as you were enveloping it with this. If I had to make a theory, this new power of yours that you discovered is somehow linked with your necromancy abilities."

"What?" Zircon was a little confused.

"I think I get what you're saying Peridot." Lapis jumped in. "Zircon, the energy that you were giving off was almost completely identical to when you use your necromancy abilities."

"So…what does that mean?" Zircon pushed for an answer.

"It means that, whatever you're doing that's seemingly curing the corruption and your necromancy ability is one in the same power." Peridot finally answered. "Zircon…I think your Gem ability is the ability of giving Temporary Lifespans."

"What?!" Zircon leaped back from everyone.

"I mean, it makes sense right? Necromancy is just a form of giving temporary life." Lapis connected.

"It's just that the life you're trying to give to these Corrupted Gems requires too much that the temporary fold breaks down before it can set in." Peridot explained even further.

"So what are you saying? That I can bring people back from the dead?" Zircon said in a clearly sarcastic manner of disbelief.

"Or…that you can bring people back from a near death experiences and revert dangerous phenomenas." Peridot finally stated, making Zircon feel as if his heart plummeted to his stomach. "Zircon! Doesn't that sound amazing?! There are so many possibilities you can do with this power!" Steven shouted in excitement.

"Eh…y-yeah, it's just a…a bit overwhelming." Zircon rubbed the back of his head, not believing that someone like him could have such an ability. "So, what do I have to do to keep the energy folded?" Zircon asked.

"Well, if my theory is correct, and it usually is, you personally can't be able to do anything. You need something that can keep the Temporary Life Flow mended until it becomes a connected, permanent flow." Peridot answered. This placed Zircon and Peridot both in a deep thought before it was interrupted by Steven gasping, "I know someone!"

"You do?!" Both Zircon and Peridot looked at him, wide eyed.

"Yeah! Me!" When Steven shouted this out, Zircon had a realization, "Of course! Steven's healing spit! But how are we going to combine those two powers into one?" Zircon's statement made Steven smile even more, "Zircon, do you know what this means?"

"What?" Zircon looked at his little friend.

"We have to fuse!" This made Zircon's eyes widen as well as mouth gaped a little, "Wh-Wh-Wh-What?!"

"Yes! Don't you see? It makes perfect sense now Zircon! Me and you were destined to do this!" Steven just grew more enthusiastic as he continued to talk. "I mean, my mom, your mom, this all has to be some kind of strange, run in with fate~!" As Zircon was listening, a sweat bead started to form on the side of his head, "Or maybe just some freakishly, lucky coincidence."

"Come on Zircon." Steven held his hand out to the other half-gem, "I know we can do this."

"St-Steven…" Zircon looked hesitantly at Steven's hand, remembering the last time he tried to fuse and how it didn't even work. Just as Zircon was about to reach out, his cell phone went off. He quickly picked up and answered, "Hello?" Garnet's voice could be heard on the other end, "Zircon, are you and Steven at the barn?"

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Bring Lapis and Peridot with you two back to the house and take the Transporter to Gem Pad 22375….you guys aren't gonna believe what we just found."


	28. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

The Gem Pad that Steven and co. arrived at was in a dense forest that was about a dozen of miles away from Beach City itself. Steven gasped out, "Zircon! Do you know where this place is?!"

"Huh? Uuuuuh…" Zircon was thinking for a moment, completely stumped.

"Silly, this was where we first met, Beach City's Natural Park!" Steven exclaimed. Zircon looked around as he noticed some signs warning hunters on the trees, signs that you would usually see in a natural park. "Oh yeah." This brought a little smile to Zircon's face looking back on that day, never knowing what he was about to encounter from the Corrupted Gem hunt. "Zircon, how long has it been since that day?" Steven asked, walking beside Zircon as Peridot and Lapis listened, never really ever hearing of how the two met.

"Um…from today, I'd say it's been three months." Zircon guessed.

"The three month anniversary of our friendship!" Steven leaped up.

"Ugh, nut-head, that's something you should usually save for when it's been a year. You make it sound like we're in a relationship." Zircon chuckled.

"But think about how far you've come since those three months." What Steven said actually made Zircon be lost in thought, thinking about everything that's happened; gaining the Gems' trust, meeting Steven's human friends, meeting his dad. But then there were also the adventures that he had like the convention with Carnelia, "C-Carneli-…" Zircon mumbled before a huge pain surged into his head, forcing him onto his knees, "AAAAAAAAH!"

"Zircon!" The others screamed as Zircon held his hand up towards them, "Stay back! G-GAAAAAAH!" Zircon curled up against the forest ground, pounding his fist against said ground as his eyes were alternating between orange and green. It wasn't long until he eventually calmed down, but was in short of breath. "Zircon…it was that Nega-thing again, wasn't it?" Steven said as him and Lapis helped Zircon up. Zircon merely nodded.

"Hey Zircon, if you want, I think I might be able to find something to help that problem of yours there." Peridot offered, sounding very worried.

"I don't think this is something science can be able to solve Peridot…" Zircon admitted. "This stupid spell that that Carnelia put on me seems to have been attached to Gem Energy itself. So far…the only thing I can think of in returning me back to normal…is crushing Carnelia's gem."

"Zircon," Lapis gasped in disbelief, "That's a little extreme even for you!"

"Well what do you expect me to do?! Wait until the day this thing makes me lose control and kill all of you?!" Zircon's eyes went crimson from his anger, making his friends look at him in shock. Zircon's eyes quickly went back to their green as he stumbled back against a tree, "I-I'm so sorry…this Nega-Dust…my Bloodstone instincts…" Zircon was digging his nails against his forehead, struggling at the mere thought of what was happening to him. Steven was about to reach out to Zircon until Pearl's voice could be heard, "Zircon?! Was that you I heard?! Is everything alright?!" She could be seen running out from a little hill, looking over at the group. "Oh good, you're all here. You guys gotta take a look at this." Pearl looked as if she was scared out of her life.

Walking down the path that Pearl came from, the others noticed a huge skid path that went through the woods and whatever trees were in its way were knocked down. "What the heck happened?" Peridot called out. "Did a meteor hit here or something?"

"Um…" Zircon pointed over to the end of the skid as there was a massive, shattered, silver-colored meteor crashed into the ground where Garnet and Amethyst were now inspecting. "Oh." Peridot responded with dotted eyes.

"Um, Pearl? What is this?" Steven inquired, really nervous and scared at the same time.

"Something…something I hoped would never come back." Pearl stuttered out.

"Something you wanna fill us in on?" Zircon verbally poked. Pearl turned around to Zircon, Steven, Peridot, and Lapis, sighing out, "This meteor…these kinds of meteors are formed in the galaxy where Homeworld is."

"That doesn't sound good." Zircon started to sound worried himself.

"That's not the worst part. The worst part is that these meteors are actually the cocoon of a very dangerous life form from our galaxy. It's so dangerous that at one point White Diamond herself ordered the destruction of all of these meteors." Pearl explained. Hearing the fact that White Diamond of all people wanted these meteors destroyed made the skin crawl on everyone. "Pearl, what is this creature?" Lapis asked, very hesitant in doing so.

"This creature is called…" Pearl gulped out, "Chromite." Just hearing this name made everyone get goosebumps now, but Peridot was actually freaking out, "Chromite?! You're telling me we got a Chromite wandering around Earth?! Oh this can't be happening! This can't be happening!"

"Lapis?" Pearl looked over at Lapis as she covered Peridot's mouth with her hand. "Thank you. Now I have the silence I need to think about what we're gonna do."

"Pearl, what is this Chromite? Maybe we can help." Steven tugged at Pearl's skirt some.

"Steven, I'm sorry, but…I'm gonna have to ask you and Zircon to stay out of this." Pearl finally admitted.

"Excuse me?" Zircon hunched his head forward, "I know you didn't just ask me of all people to stand on the sidelines."

"Zircon, I'm serious, you guys haven't encountered anything like this before and really, what with your condition, I would rather not have another Carnelian incident to happen!" Garnet and Amethyst were now looking over due to Pearl's screaming as eyes widened from what she just said, looking over at a surprised Zircon whose eyes quickly narrowed, "I see…so that's how you guys really think of me…"

"N-No, Zircon I didn't-" Zircon quickly turned on his heel and began to walk back to the Gem Pad, completely ignoring Pearl.

"Zircon wait!" Steven ran out in front of Zircon who was still walking, "Zircon listen to me. She didn't mean what she said."

"Oh I know exactly what she means!" Zircon's eyes were now stained crimson. "Ever since that day at the convention, I feel as if they've been treating me differently, like I'm some sort of burden now to keep track of!"

"Zircon no, that's not it!" Steven tried to reason with him.

"It's all because of this stupid Nega-Dust and that whole dugout blowout that those guys can't trust me to do anything anymore!" Zircon pushed past Steven, stepping onto the Gem Pad as he was teleported back to the house.

"I'll show them…" Zircon mumbled while travelling through the beam of light. "I'll show them all that I'm not obsolete." He looked up now, his eyes completely orange. "I'll hunt down this Chromite myself…and put it out of its misery."


	29. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

The Gem pad back at the Crystal Temple shined down a beam of light, Steven leaping out from it, "Zircon!" Steven called out; having went after Zircon by himself despite Pearl's warnings. He quickly ran upstairs to his room, hoping Zircon was still there, only to see that Steven's room reverted back to normal before Zircon ever came to Beach City. Zircon's bed covers and sleeping bag were gone, all of his anime videos and figures that were on a shelf in the corner, and Steven looked outside to see that Reaper was also gone, along with his friend. "Oh no…oh no oh no oh no oh no…" Steven slouched against his bed on the floor while a bright shine came from down in the living area. "Steven!" Lapis and Peridot's voices could be heard.

Steven looked up with tear-filled eyes to see Lapis and Peridot at the top of the steps at his room. "No…" Lapis gasped out, seeing exactly what Steven just witnessed.

"Oh Zircon you clod." Peridot whined out, worried. "He's not in any state of mind to be out there by himself! He could hurt someone through that Nega-Dust inside of him!"

"We need to find him then!" Steven shouted out as he was about to run down the stairs before Lapis grabbed him by the collar, "Steven, we don't even know where he went."

"Ugh…" Peridot groaned over in the corner as she seemed to be on her knees, looking at something. "Steven, do you ever organize anything?"

"What do you mean?" Steven ran over to where Peridot was as she seemed to be looking at Steven's movie collection. "That's strange…When Zircon arrived, he would usually alphabetize them himself, but…why are they out of order?" Peridot quickly eyed at Steven before looking back at the collection.

"I wonder…" Peridot muttered as she collected the movies that were out of order, accumulating a total of eight movies. She placed them on the floor and started to think diligently.

"Why are we messing with Peridot?" Lapis asked a little annoyed about this.

"Don't you think it's strange why before Zircon left, he took time away just to put movies out of order?" Peridot responded, now making Lapis think, not quite understanding what Peridot is getting at. "Don't you see? What if Zircon left behind a code?" Steven and Lapis both looked at Peridot, shocked, as now they too are looking at the eight movies.

"I…don't really see a connection." Steven started. "I mean, all of these movies are different genres, no reoccurring actor…what kind of code was Zircon thinking of leaving behind?"

"You're thinking a little too complex, Steven. Think about how he left them." Peridot explained. Steven closed his eyes, putting himself in deep thought before opening them wide, "They were out of order, alphabetically."

"Bingo. Let's see if we can make anything from the first letters of each of these movies." Peridot started looking over the movies. "M…H…E…C…T…R…O…I. An anagram, but for what word? Troi-Mech?" Peridot guessed.

"Octerhim?" Lapis tried.

"G-Guys, those aren't words." Steven sweated before thinking himself. All at once it came to the three, "Chromite!"

"Oh no! This is even worse!" Peridot began to freak out again.

"But I don't understand. Why would Zircon leave something like that behind?" Steven held his head, scared for the well-being of his friend.

"…Maybe he left it for you Steven?" Lapis commented.

"What?" Steven looked up at Lapis, who smiled back lightly, "Think about it…you're the only one who never doubted him before. Not even from what Pearl said earlier, you never doubted him. He may trust a lot of us, but you Steven, I think he trusts 100%." Lapis's little pep-talk almost made Steven tears of joy, but he wiped his eyes and donned a more serious look, "Guys, we need to go and find Zircon and that Chromite."

"Are you crazy?!" Peridot freaked. "Chromites are very dangerous for a reason! Steven, Chromites are masters of shapeshifting. If they are able to get a sample of any kind of living organism, they can copy them, perfectly! That's why White Diamond wanted them destroyed." Peridot lectured.

"I don't care about that, Peridot! I want my friend back!" Steven stated as he ran downstairs towards the door, "Steven wait, Where are you heading?!" Lapis called down.

"My dad's place! We need a ride!" Steven called back up.

The sound of Reaper's engine roared throughout the forest-side, concrete road as Zircon was zipping down it at insane speeds. He would soon stop as he spotted something strange in the middle of the road. It was a stream liquid, but the weird thing was, it seemed like some kind of liquidated metal. Zircon parked Reaper and kneeled over at the trail of liquid to see if he can track whatever left this. It wasn't long before honks could be heard from behind Zircon. "Hey motor-hog! Move your piece of metal trash out of the middle of the road!" It was a big, gruff looking guy who was driving a carrier truck. Zircon didn't respond, ignoring the man until the sound of revving engines could be heard from behind. The guy was going run right over Reaper…not a smart idea. Zircon stepped in front of the truck and placed his hand out, stopping the truck in its track right before driving his hand even further into the front of the truck and pulling out its engine.

"E-Eh eh eh…" The driver now looked like he needed a new pair of pants as Zircon glared at him with his orange-turned eyes. Zircon eventually dropped the engine before getting on his motorcycle and driving into the woods, following the liquid trail.

Just minutes later, the Universe Van was driving down the same highway, close behind Zircon's trail. "How exactly did this happen anyway?!" Greg questioned.

"Well Zircon got the wrong idea after Pearl said something that was taken completely differently." Steven explained.

"Why am I not surprised about any of this?" Greg rolled his eyes at what's been happening right when the group came upon the driver whose truck was recently assaulted by Zircon. He was yelling at his phone to get a tow truck to where he was as the group stared on from the van. "Yeah, he's been here." Lapis stated.

"And from the looks of things, his personality is deteriorating from the Nega-Dust." Peridot stated, making Steven whimper in worry. Lapis elbowed Peridot, "Peridot!"

"What?! I'm speaking the truth!" Peridot yelped out when Steven saw the metal liquid across the road and the motorcycle tracks that were out in the forest, "Dad, follow that trail!" Greg weaved out into the forest, a determined look being worn by Steven. Lapis placed a hand on Steven's shoulder, "Steven, it's ok. I know we'll find and help Zircon."

"…I plan on doing just that." Steven stated.


	30. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Zircon knelt down to the forest floor as he hovers his hands over the liquid metal substance before him that was on the ground. "I know you're out here…I know you're close…" His eyes slowly opened to reveal the orange tinted irises again. Green aura emanates from his palms before he snapped his fingers, summoning forth four skeletal beings, "Find it…" He ordered, all of the skeletons leaping off in different directions.

The Universe van came to a screeching halt, "I can't go any farther you guys. The forest is starting to get too dense." Greg explained as Lapis and Peridot hopped out of the back of the van and started to walk on ahead with the trail Zircon's motorcycle left behind. When Steven was about to head out himself, Greg's hand rested on Steven's shoulder. "Steven…"

"Dad, I have to go with them. Remember, I've been in worse situations before this." Steven looked back up at his dad with his usual, cheery smile. Greg returned back with a smile of his own, "I know. Just be careful. I want both of you boys to come back from this. Go get him, son." Having encouragement from his father, Steven leaped out to catch up with Lapis and Peridot.

"Steven! Come here!" Peridot called out while Steven was running after them. After finally catching up, the three were looking at Zircon's motorcycle with no Zircon. "It's Reaper!" Steven called out, "He must be close by!" From Steven saying this, Lapis' water wings came out, battle ready. "You know his mind isn't fully his own right now, right Steven?" Lapis spoke, checking up on Steven.

"I-I know, but I'm ready to do what I can to help him get back to his senses." Steven looked out into the forest with triumph.

"Just remember, Steven, the thing that's affecting Zircon's mind is Gem Sorcery." Peridot reminded, "I don't think even your healing capabilities will be able to cure him."

"So, it's sort of like a virus?" Steven simplified it, trying to understand.

"More or less, except if Zircon can't find enough willpower to overcome it, it'll consume him. And I'm sure you-know-who is waiting for that exact chance to take him under her control again." Peridot shivered at the mere thought.

"Carnelian…" Lapis looked on ahead in anger, remembering back at the Convention incident and how she was unable to do anything to stop Carnelian when she took control of Zircon, "I hate even after we were able to defeat her, she still won somehow. Ngh!...I wish there was something I could've done to prevent that. If only I didn't argue with Zircon."

"Then what? Lapis, none of us knew what would've on that day. I don't even think Garnet could've foreseen that event and occurring…and it's Garnet!" Peridot explained.

"Trust me Lapis, there are some things I wish even I was able to do back then." Steven mumbled, looking down at the ground while he was walking.

"When I see her again I'm gonna make her go poof…for good." Lapis spoke, her hands clenching tightly at her sides.

"Save that malice for the Chromite, Lapis." Peridot reminded Lapis. "When we find Zircon, odds are, he's already found it."

Zircon was pressing forward ever so dilignatly, following the aura of one of his skeletal figures that he suddenly sensed was destroyed. While he was walking, however, there were trails of something dripping from behind him getting the closer the more he was slowing down to listen. Once he completely stopped, some of the liquid oozed onto his shoulder. Looking at it in curiousness, Zircon could see that it was the same, metal liquid that he traced on the street and in the woods. It came to a realization that it dripped down onto him, making him slowly look up. After arching his head all the way, a loud screech bellowed at him as something lunged out from the tree branches above. Pulling out a sickle dagger to block it while holding an arm out against it, Zircon threw the creature away, it rolling around on the ground some. Finally getting back up, he could see what it was. Shining, reflective, metal skin, glowing, burning-red eyes, sharp, sword-like fingers, spinal stumps poking out from its backside, and snarling, liquid metal covered, sharp teeth. "So…this is a Chromite." Zircon slowly smirked as his eyes continued glowing orange, "Don't bore me now~…"

The Chromite creature lunged back out at Zircon who blocked the beast's claws, finding that it actually did have power behind it, "Heh, guess you are somewhat of a threat." Zircon dropped back onto his back and placed his foot on the Chromite's chest before chucking it backwards. "But I can't exactly see why even White Diamond herself deemed your kind as a threat." His eyes darted towards the Chromite filled with the intent to kill. Getting back up again, the Chromite snarled and screeched at Zircon dashing straight up towards Zircon for the third time allowing Zircon to easily read its movements. With one swift strike, he sliced the creature in half with ease, coating his sickle dagger in the liquid metal from its body. "Hmph…Garnet and them were scared for no reason…" His eyes would soon revert back their normal, green color, "Garnet…Pearl…Amethyst…" He fell to his knees, remembering how he acted towards them earlier that day, "Steven…" He gripped his pants' legs in deep sadness, but also anger towards himself, "That's it…I've made up my mind." He finally spoke and started to get…only to hear some kind of mushy sound being made from behind him. When Zircon looked back, his eyes widened, "Oh…so that's why White Diamond wanted all of you destroyed…"

"Come on! I can hear it over here!" Lapis yelled out, the three running all the way to where they could hear the fighting going on. "There!" Peridot pointed ahead to see Zircon fending off from two Chromite creatures.

"A-Are those the Chromites?!" Lapis looked at them in disgust at how they looked while Peridot was shaking in her boots. "They're just as I imagined them to look like."

"Zircon! Hold on!" Steven yelled out readying his shield up to throw at the two enemies.

"Steven wait!" Zircon called out just as Steven threw his shield, slicing the two Chromites in half. "Yes! I did it!" It didn't take Zircon more than a second to run over to the group, "You guys have to get out of here, now!"

"What do you mean? Steven just made mincemeat out of them." Lapis smiled, believing that everyone should be back to normal now.

"No! That's what I'm trying to tell you!" Zircon yelled out. Before he could explain, the mushing sound he heard earlier could be heard again with Peridot giving out a digusted scream, "Ew! What's going on?!" All four of them stared in a mixture of shock, fear, and awe as the two, individually sliced up Chromites were reforming now into four, separate new beings. "Now I understand why White Diamond wanted these things destroyed…they're practically invincible." Zircon gulped out with the group being completely surrounded by this seemingly unstoppable threat.


	31. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

"So this is that Chromite creature that Pearl was talking about?!" Steven yelped out, as him, Lapis, Peridot, and Zircon were surrounded by a group of vicious Chromites who were eyeing down their new preys right before them.

"Y-Y-Yes! White Diamond deemed them too dangerous because if we tried to hack them to pieces with our weapons they would just regrow into separate beings from the parts that were cut off!" Peridot explained, freaking out from the current situation.

"Do you at least know how they were defeated in the first place?" Lapis was at least trying to get a grasp on the situation where Zircon placed his weapon away, knowing that it wasn't going to help them in this situation. "Seriously?! Lapis, I'm an Era 2 Peridot. I wasn't created by the time these things were still about!"

"Then we're just gonna have to do this the fun way…" Zircon cracked his hands before lunging out at one of the Chromites, tackling it to the ground.

"Zircon!" Steven shouted, trying to go and help him.

"Steven, he'll be fine! We've got our own problems to worry about!" Lapis pulled him back from a Chromite almost chomping his head off. "Hmph! If only I had something to fight with!" Peridot whined. One of the Chromites leaped out at her, immediately getting smacked away by one of Lapis' water wings, "You two, stay behind me!" Lapis called out, holding her hands out to force Steven and Peridot behind her.

"Lapis, I'm the one with the shield. Let me protect us!" Steven yelled.

"I can't, Steven. You've never fought these things before and we don't know their weakness yet." Lapis couldn't back up anymore as the three of them were now up against a tree with no water around for Lapis to use. After kicking back the Chromite that was on him, Zircon looked back at the others and groaned as he held his hand out to call forth one of his giant, skeletal hands to punch back the Chromites ganging up on them. "What are you all just standing around for?! Get out of here, now!" Zircon ordered.

"We're not going to leave you, Zircon!" Steven yelled back, making Zircon's eyes narrow down. Steven gasped, "Zircon look out!" Right as Zircon got head-butted into a tree by the Chromite he was fighting earlier. When it tried to lunge at him again, Steven bashed it away with his shield, making it yelp from the pain. Enraged by this, Zircon's eyes undulated between crimson and orange while he pushed Steven aside, "I don't need your help! I can take these things on by myself! I'll show Pearl and them…"

"Zircon, why are you acting like this!? This isn't like you!" Steven cried out. "Y-You're not…a jerk!"

"News-Flash, Steven, I'm a Bloodstone, IT'S IN MY BLOOD!" Zircon turned around, lashing at Steven, his eyes completely enveloped in the orange color from the Nega-Dust's affects, glaring right back at Steven. Seeing Steven literally in tears from seeing Zircon like this, Zircon's eyes quickly sobered back to their green color, "Steven…I-I'm…" Zircon was interrupted by a sudden pain to his back. One of the Chromite's got a big slash off Zircon's back while he was distracted, making him fall to the floor, squirming from the slash marks. "ZIRCON!" Steven went to try and recover Zircon, knowing that Zircon's Gem was on his backside. It wasn't long until the Chromite who attacked Zircon now turned its attention on Steven, lunging at him. Shocked, the Chromite stopped in midair before lunging backwards, being sent back into a tree, splitting in half. Peridot's laugh could be heard from the distance, "Of course! These things are made entirely of metal! I can be able to control them!"

"Can you destroy them, then?" Lapis bursted Peridot's bubble making her frown, "Th-That's a negative."

"Well, the most you can do is keep them off of us so we can escape." Lapis proposed. "We can't stay here without enough knowledge on these creatures. We need to get back to Garnet and the group!"

"Zircon! Zircon, please be okay." Steven lifted up Zircon's hoodie, relieved to see that the slash just missed Zircon's Gem. Zircon tried to look around to see if he find anything while he was recovering. All he could find was a lighter he kept inside of his jacket pocket. "Peridot!" Zircon yelled out just as he tossed the lighter to her so she could catch it with her powers and hurl it at one of the Chromites, making it right in between its forehead. "Bullseye! Take that you liquidated-base Clod!" The Chromite got right back up, snarling, making Peridot yelp and hide right behind Lapis.

After the Chromites started to step closer to her, they began to whimper and back up a bit. Noticing this, Zircon looked down at their feet to see the lighter was activated, its ignited flame spewing up. "That's it!" Zircon exclaimed, "Peridot, I'm about to ask you something completely against my nature. Throw Reaper at them."

"What?! But Reaper is your pride and-"

"I know that!" Zircon yelled at Peridot interrupting, "Just do it!".

Gulping, Peridot did as Zircon said and held up Reaper with her metal powers before chucking it right in front of the Chromites, busting up the engine. Rolling forward and picking up the still ignited lighter, Zircon chucked it right at engine where the gas was leaking out, making Reaper explode and catching the grass and nearby trees on fire, even taking two of the Chromites with it. The remaining Chromites shrieked out and ran away from the line of fire that was now separating them and Steven and the group. They were able to survive.

Hours later, Greg was able to find them and contacted the Fire Department and Wildlife Preservation to try and put the fires out. Steven and the group were sitting at the side of the road, watching the efforts being put in to stop the early forest fire. "Fire, of course! Why didn't I think of it!" Peridot held her hand against her forehead in complete dumbfounded distress, "These Chromites are made out of liquidated metal, a form that was already weak against intense heats of fire when the liquid is solid. Anymore heat to them and they will evaporate just like that!"

"…Think of it as a last minute gift from me." Zircon muttered out, standing to his feet. "Zircon, don't move! Your wound hasn't healed up yet." Steven tried to console Zircon.

"No need. I finally realized what I need to do." Smiling brightly, Steven looked up at Zircon, "So you're coming back!"

"…I'm leaving." Zircon announced, making the company all look at him in shock, especially Steven, "L-Leaving?" Steven couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"I was thinking about it after my first encounter with the Chromite…but when I snapped at you, that's when I realized I need to. Because of this Nega-Dust affecting me, I'm too dangerous to be around you guys anymore." Zircon explained, looking down at his hands, "What if I actually hurt you?..."

"Zircon, that's not going to happen!" Steven tried to reassure Zircon.

"It almost happened twice now! Once at the dugout, and once more just a short while ago! Steven, I'm unstable like this! I…I have to go." Pulling his hoodie up once more, Zircon started to walk across the street to the other side of the woods.

However, a huge water wing came out and blocked Zircon's path, "…I never thought you of all people would stop me, Lapis." He glared, not turning back to look at the angered Lapis.

"Of course not, Zircon. You know I don't hate you anymore. You know I consider us friends. That's why…that's why I'm not gonna let you do this." Lapis other wing as some of the water from the firetrucks started spurting out to surround her, making the firefighters jump back in shock.

"So it's force then?..." Zircon turned slightly to look at her.

"…Even if I have to drag you back to the Temple unconscious…" Lapis threatened.


	32. Chapter 30: Zircon's Song

Chapter 30: Zircon's Song

"Stay out of my way, Lapis!" Zircon waved his arm in front of him, calling forth a giant, skeleton hand to knock away Lapis' water. She leaped back, culminating all the water to her and forming them into giant water hands, "I won't let you leave like this!" She threw out one of her water fists, hitting Zircon and knocking him off the road into the other forest, busting him through a couple trees.

"Lapis stop! You're hurting him!" Steven tried to pull on Lapis' arm to hold her back, but she snatched her hand back as one of her wings held Steven away. "I have to do this, Steven. Zircon is not thinking straight right now!" Out from the treelines, multiples blasts of Skulls, with flaming, green energy around them, shot out towards Lapis, who blocked the attacks with her other wings. The explosions from the skulls made the wing's water disperse and scatter around her. "This is for the good of the group right now, Lapis." Zircon stepped out onto the concrete road again. He moved a twig out from his hair that got stuck on him when he crashed through some of the trees, "I'm too much of a liability right now."

"But we can help you!" Lapis yelled out.

"You can't be able to do anything about my mind, Lapis! Peridot, what did you say about the Nega-Dust?" Zircon called out.

"Um, I-I said that the Nega-Dust is like a virus. Th-The only way you can be able to make it go away is if you have a strong enough willpower." Peridot muttered out, looking down at the floor.

"Exactly." Zircon looked down too, placing his hands in his jacket pocket. "Because of the Nega-Dust, it's too dangerous for me to be around you guys…I need to be alone and on my own until I know it's safe for me to return."

"Zircon…" Lapis' hands and teethe clenched up, "I don't want you to go. None of us want you to…So I won't let you leave!" Her water accumulated all around her, aimed towards Zircon. He sighed out, "Lapis, you know you can't beat me…"

"I don't care! If there's any time I can beat you, it will be now!"

Zircon looked down for a moment before raising his head up and taking a deep breath.

" Steady Breath Calm Mind Keep it all in, don't let it show ."

" Paced Heart Quick Feet " Zircon takes up a fighting stance, " Just like before when I was alone "

Dashes forward Lapis as she threw out water streams at him as he dodged and slid underneath one of the streams, keeping his pace towards her.

" You act as if you know what I can do Get on your high-horse, I'll knock you down a peg " Draws out his sickle blades, slashing out any other water blasts that came at him.

" Disregard your guard and submit to me Don't think you're gonna get out unscathed " Digs in, close to Lapis, and delivers a kick to her, sending her into the forest on her side, making her slide against the floor.

" You can't step up to me I'm in my own league " Jumps up onto a tree branch and crouches, looking down at her.

" Face it Lappy, you're in over your head " Lapis scowls at him, throwing water pellets him as he jumped on through the trees.

" I want to be alone! On my own! " Lands beside Lapis as he exchanged punches with her wings.

" Got nobody to look out for me Got nobody to look out for, myself " Lapis' wings wrapped around each of his hands and threw him away from her, making him roll across the forest ground, his slash wound from the Chromites opening up. His teeth gritted as Lapis was now pouring her water pellets onto his back, trying to knock him unconscious from the pain.

" Fast jabs Ngh, Sharp wit Always act like I did when I was ten " Pulls up a colossal, skeleton hand to block the pellets.

" Strong Defense Stronger Offense Only wish I just had a strong will… " Pushes his skeletal hand through the pellets while calling another hand to his other side. With two massive water fists next to her, herself, Lapis threw one at Zircon as he threw one of his own Skeletal Hands, colliding with Lapis' Water Fist.

" I want to be alone! On my own! I just want the strength I deserve! Just want the strength I need for them! " His Skeletal Hands and her Water Fists now exchanged, one after another, colliding endlessly into a barrage of supernatural punches.

" I want to be alone! " His right Skeletal Hand broke through Lapis' right Water Fist.

" On my own! " The left Skeletal Hand broke through the left Water Fist, making Lapis fall on her knees.

" I just want you to understand! That I gotta do this all! BY! MY-!" Throws one last energy blast at Lapis, knocking her into a tree as she slid down it, unconscious. "S-Seeeeelf… " Zircon fell to his knees, out of breath from his back and forth with Lapis. Steven and Peridot looked out from the hillside on the concrete street, looking at them in grief and shock. All Zircon could do was look up at Steven and Peridot before turning around from them and placing his hood over his head, "Take her back to the Temple…I don't want to see either of you following me…" Zircon started to walk off away from them.

Steven and Peridot ran over to Lapis and kneeled down to the ground to her, "Lapis! Lapis are you alright?!" Steven shook her shoulder.

"C-C'mon Lapis, I promise I'll clean up DVD collections tomorrow if you open your eyes!..." Peridot cried out. Within seconds, Lapis opened her eyes, except they were in tears, "I-I'm sorry Steven…I tried to stop him…"

"It's not your fault, Lapis…" Steven seemed to be on the brink of tears too when he looked out to see that Zircon was no longer in sight, "If…If he believes he's doing this for our own good, then I trust him…even…" The tears now streamed down Steven's cheek as he tried to wipe them, "Even if we may not see him ever again…" He sniffled, leaning his head against Lapis' shoulder as she returned the gesture with a hug, holding him in her arms with Peridot joining in the hug immediately afterwards. Over on the hillside at the concrete road, Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst just arrived to see this unfold, all three of them looking down in regret of not being able to stop this.

Meanwhile; Deep in Beach City Wilderness

The Chromites were roaming around like they're some sort of wolf pack as a giggle could be heard from the side, drawing their attention. "So~…these are the infamous creatures that even White Diamond feared…Hahahaha~, I think you lot will prove veeeeery useful~." The voice finished as a familiar, orange dust started to surround the Chromites.

Back at the Crystal Temple

Steven was sitting out on one of the Temple's Statue's hands, looking out at the ocean. "Steven?" Garnet was standing behind him, "Are you ok?"

"I'm…just thinking about Zircon." Steven struggled out a reply.

"I'm sorry Steven…" Garnet sat down next to Steven, dangling her feet over the edge of the hand, "If only we were there. If only I could've for-seen this in my vision. I-I probably could've stopped him."

"F-For some reason, I don't think any of us could." Steven admitted, "Whenever Zircon had his mind on something, he would go through with it, no matter how reckless or dangerous it was, but…that's exactly what I looked up about him. He was fearless and he didn't let the odds stop him. All I just wish is…that I can become as strong as he will become while he's gone."

"Do you honestly think that he will come back, Steven?" Garnet looked over at him, removing her visors.

"There's one reason why I know he will be." Steven looked up to gaze at the ocean, smiling. "He left in the first place, because he cared about us." After saying this, Steven looked out at the beach to see a single, hooded figure looking up at them. Shocked, Steven shook his head to clear his mind before looking again to see the figure disappeared. "Zircon…" Steven smiled, "Good luck, bro."

-PART 1 END


	33. Author's Thoughts (Viewers Must Read)

Author's Thoughts (Viewers Must Read)

This is Darkcastchamp here to thank everyone who read through my Part 1 of my Steven Universe story. I thank all of the critiques, positive and negative alike to help me evolve this story into a better one for your entertainment.

I would like to go out and say this now that I will be taking a break from this storyline to work on other ambitious ideas I had and I hope you guys are there to see it through. While you guys wait for these new stories to come out, please check out my other stories as well to keep supporting my dream of storytelling.

Thank you very much, everyone~!


End file.
